Chasing the Light

The upcoming novel "Marriage Fraud" is open for follows!

[Realistic Female Growth / Dysfunctional Family / Fighting Back and Striving / Slice of Life]

Wen Ruan's childhood was far from happy. Her parents abandoned her beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance as soon as she was born. They already had two daughters, and the Wang family wanted a son.

The couple from the neighboring village, Wen Xuelin and Gan Jinlan, found her, named her Wen Ruan, and treated her like their own daughter for three years.

Then Wen Xuelin died in an accident, and Gan Jinlan remarried in another town.

Five-year-old Wen Ruan was sent back to her birth family, where she became the Wang family's third daughter, the unnecessary “Third Girl.”

No one in that household welcomed her. Her two older sisters thought she was a burden, and her younger brother took his anger out on her. She lived cautiously, speaking less and less.

She failed to get into high school and went south, working assembly lines, in sales, and as a street vendor. She endured every kind of hardship.

At nineteen, she met Yang Hao, the only son of a family that owned a factory. He treated her unbelievably well.

For the first time, someone remembered her birthday. For the first time, someone waited downstairs while she worked overtime until midnight. For the first time, someone told her, “Don't be afraid. I'm here.”

Yang Hao felt for all she'd been through and said he would marry no one else in this life, that he wanted to give her a home.

Sometimes Wen Ruan felt dazed, as if everything before her couldn't be real, and that made her cherish it all the more.

Her parents somehow found out that Wen Ruan was dating someone and came to see her.

After their first visit, Wen Ruan told them not to come again. But less than a year later, they returned. They didn't call Wen Ruan, but went straight to Yang Hao instead.

Wanting to make a good impression, Yang Hao went to the train station to pick them up without telling her. He even took it upon himself to arrange a meeting between his parents and Wen Ruan's parents.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the happy occasion he'd imagined. At the dinner table, Luo Sumei immediately asked for a bride price, and Yang Hao's mother's expression changed on the spot.

Wen Ruan found out and sent her parents home the next day, but the incident made Yang Hao's mother dislike her even more.

They had a huge fight over it.

Wen Ruan asked him, “Why didn't you tell me you were going to pick them up?”

Yang Hao said, “I just wanted to make your parents happy. I didn't think things would turn out like this...”

The incident became the fuse that lit the conflict, leaving resentment in both families. After more than half a year of struggling to make things work, Yang Hao married someone else.

The year they broke up, Wen Ruan's business went under, too.

That winter, her father was hospitalized and needed surgery.

Luo Sumei called her. “Your dad's heart is failing. He needs bypass surgery, but we don't have the money. What should we do?”

Wen Ruan sighed. “I don't have any money either.”

“Then what are we supposed to do? Your dad needs saving! We can't just watch him die, can we? You need to figure something out...”

Wen Ruan held her phone, feeling exhausted to her bones. “If you don't have money, get Wang Yaozu to take out a bank loan.”

There was a pause on the other end. “He just got married. How could he pay it back? That's too much pressure.”

“Then have Eldest Sister take out a loan.”

“Your eldest sister has a child to raise, and your second sister's life is hard too, so far away from home. None of them can afford it. You're unmarried and have no children. You're the only one without any pressure...”

Wen Ruan scoffed and didn't listen any further. “If they can't get a loan, they can borrow the money from someone else.” She hung up right away.

In the end, her father's surgery was paid for with the elderly couple's retirement savings.

Wen Ruan went home and stayed with him in the hospital for a week. As soon as the surgery was over, she left.

After returning, she started over from nothing, making sales calls by day and replying to messages at night, gritting her teeth as she slowly built her business back up.

In the second year after her business took off, Wen Ruan met He Ran.

That was also the year another crisis struck her family...

Reader's Guide:

The female lead has two romantic relationships.

Family drama and son preference.

All place names in this story are pseudonyms.

Not an extreme wish-fulfillment story. The romance is not perfect.

The main focus is family relationships. The female lead's romance takes up 30 percent of the story.

One male supporting character is gay. If that's not your thing, please don't read.

Theme: Keep working hard and be yourself.