His Secretary

[Seeking readers for upcoming novel, "The Substitute Bride's Hong Kong Marriage"]

Blurb for "His Secretary":

There's a rumor going around at Jixiang Group: Secretary Li from the CEO's office is two-timing her boyfriend by hooking up with their boss, Pei Huaiyuan.

Li Shuning has been badly hurt by the rumors. She's handed in her resignation over and over, but Pei Huaiyuan keeps rejecting it.

His only reason: "If you just leave like this, I'll lose face."

The rumors are vague, but Li Shuning did have a boyfriend. That was a month ago, though. She caught him cheating at a hotel, then drank herself into a stupor. When she woke up, she somehow found herself in bed with Pei Huaiyuan.

"Mr. Pei, don't you think you owe me an explanation?"

Pei Huaiyuan looked cold but spoke lightly. "What's there to explain? You wanted me, so you took advantage of me."

"..."

*

Later, Pei Huaiyuan tracked down the people who'd spread the rumors and said, "Everyone, I'd like to clear something up."

"First, I was the one who pursued my wife."

"Second, you're all fired."

When those words reached Li Shuning, she nearly spat out her water. Looking completely baffled, she asked, "Who's his wife?"

*

Li Shuning had always thought catching her ex cheating was a coincidence. She never expected to accidentally find Pei Huaiyuan chatting animatedly with a hotel owner!

Furious and dizzy with anger, she went to demand an explanation. "Mr. Pei, please don't start rumors about yourself, okay?"

Pei Huaiyuan stood up calmly. "What rumors did I start? That you're not my wife? Or that I never pursued you?"

Li Shuning laughed in disbelief. "Your way of pursuing someone is to break me and my ex-boyfriend up?"

"What else?" He ground the words out through clenched teeth. "When you're pursuing someone, you have to use a few tricks."

1. The heroine has a boyfriend early on, and the hero has a secret crush on her. The hero is completely pure in body and heart.

2. She met her boyfriend through matchmaking. Their relationship is ordinary, and they have never been intimate.

3. The hero exposes the boyfriend's true colors and takes his place.

--- Upcoming novel: "The Substitute Bride's Hong Kong Marriage"

Marriage first, love later | Older hero, six-year age gap | Everyday life among the wealthy

After returning to the Cheng family six years ago, Cheng Jiayi learned how to survive under her family's thumb.

On the eve of the highly anticipated wedding joining the Liang and Cheng families, her twin sister is suddenly kidnapped and disappears. With no other options, Cheng Jiayi puts on her sister's wedding dress and goes to the ceremony in her place. To her surprise, her sister suddenly appears at the wedding, and Cheng Jiayi has no choice but to marry her own brother-in-law, Liang Yingxiu.

In the six months since their wedding, they've barely seen each other. People in their social circle have all kinds of theories about their marriage, and insist it won't last long.

When Liang Yingxiu hears this, he scoffs and dismisses it. "My wife is deeply devoted to me."

*

It's no wonder Liang Yingxiu thinks so. Cheng Jiayi fusses over him and professes her love every day. Her acting is so convincing, even she almost believes it.

Until one day, the truth comes out: she married him in her sister's place.

No one could have guessed that Cheng Jiayi had orchestrated her sister's disappearance herself.

The woman who had always seemed gentle and meek had managed to make fools of everyone.

By then, Cheng Jiayi has already gotten what she wanted and doesn't care about the marriage. She expects him to hand her divorce papers, but instead Liang Yingxiu asks, "You went to all that trouble to marry me. Wasn't it because you liked me?"

Cheng Jiayi shakes her head. "No."

Liang Yingxiu grips her chin, his tone harsh. "Jiayi, you just don't understand what it means to like someone yet."

Cheng Jiayi finds it funny. She'd been acting for six months, and he really believed her.

But when he leans down to kiss her, she finds she can't laugh.

...She'd taken the act too far.

*

Liang Yingxiu is a regular in Hong Kong's financial news, the youngest person ever to hold power in Hong Kong.

To him, it doesn't matter who his wife is, as long as she obeys.

Until he discovers that Cheng Jiayi's obedience is an act.

For the first time, he thinks being deceived might not be so bad.

From that day on, he starts teaching her business, social skills, dating, and...

It takes only two years for Cheng Jiayi to go from the obscure Second Miss Cheng to Mrs. Liang, the woman everyone in Hong Kong's high society wants to curry favor with.

Liang Yingxiu teaches her many things, but never how to leave him.

They once agreed to be married on paper, and to go their separate ways when the contract expired. But now their two-year agreement is up, and neither of them mentions divorce. The paper contract lies crumpled beneath Liang Yingxiu's desk.

Cheng Jiayi is drenched in sweat, nervously gripping the edge of the desk.

Liang Yingxiu coaxes her gently. "Baby, how can you still not know how to enjoy yourself after all these times?"

Cheng Jiayi grits her teeth. "You taught me too much. I can't take it all in."

"That's all right. We have a lifetime to learn, nice and slow."

Liang Yingxiu: I teach my wife to love herself first, and then love me.

1. The leads go from indifference to love, with the hero loving only the heroine from beginning to end. Completely pure.

2. No bankruptcy. The heroine ultimately inherits the family business.

3. The characters all have some flaws, but their values are sound. The heroine isn't a saint, but she's not cruel without cause. Everything she does has a reason, which will be explained in the story.

Theme: Love is respect and redemption