Her Safe Bet

Everyone knows Xie Linwan is the family's obvious "safe bet."

Her older sister is the heir their mother has carefully groomed.

And she is the family outcast, cast aside.

To prove she's harmless, she throws herself into the entertainment industry without relying on a single family connection.

But she never becomes more than a middling actress.

So when she's caught in the fatal scandal of "interfering in a top-tier star's relationship," she agrees to the most absurd, yet clear-eyed, proposal.

She marries a girl named Xue Shu.

Xue Shu missed the cutoff for a civil service position by 0.1 points.

She was rejected after the first round of graduate school entrance exams, then grit her teeth and accepted an alternate placement.

After one failure after another, Xue Shu knows she needs an income to support her studies, while Xie Linwan needs a spouse.

So, under the terms of an agreement, the two marry with cool deliberation.

Each gets what she needs.

They both think this is nothing more than a marriage of convenience, understood without a word.

That is, until Xie Linwan's father comes to call. He speaks harshly, pointing at Xue Shu and snapping, "What makes you think you can just walk through the Lin family's doors?"

His threat is blunt: "Since you're still studying, you'd better focus on your studies. You don't want all your hard work to come to nothing, do you?"

Xue Shu, who has been silent all this time, simply nods. "Uncle, I married into Xie Linwan's family, not the Lin family."

"Besides, this is a society governed by the rule of law. I passed the proper qualification review and exams to make it to the interview stage. If some special 'methods' of yours interfere with a fair process, I imagine you'll find yourself in trouble, too."

Her voice is even, as if she were discussing the weather.

In that moment, Xie Linwan suddenly sees things clearly. She thought she'd found a "safe bet" to shelter her from the storm.

But the other woman seems more like a tree that can grow on its own.

And the little fox, Xie Linwan, who has drifted for far too long, has finally found somewhere to stay.

Two major things happened in the final month of Xue Shu's twenty-third year:

She once again missed out on her dream graduate school in her second attempt, and reluctantly accepted an alternate placement.

She missed the cutoff for a civil service position by 0.1 points.

And one small thing:

In the middle of her sadness, she found time to marry Xie Linwan, a slightly popular actress.

#Marriage of convenience#

#Married first, fell in love later#

#Entertainment industry#

#Two female leads#

#Mutual salvation#

Theme: Everyone will find their own extraordinary connection.