Arranged Marriage to Love | Older Man, Six-Year Age Gap | Everyday Life in a Wealthy Family
After returning to the Cheng family six years ago, Cheng Jiayi learned how to survive under her family's roof.
On the eve of the much-anticipated wedding uniting the Liang and Cheng families, her twin sister was suddenly kidnapped and went missing. With no other way out, Cheng Jiayi put on her sister's wedding dress and went to the ceremony in her place. To her surprise, her sister appeared at the wedding, leaving Cheng Jiayi no choice but to marry her brother-in-law, Liang Yingxiu.
In the six months since their marriage, the two have barely seen each other. People in their circles have speculated endlessly about their marriage, declaring that it won't last much longer.
When Liang Yingxiu hears this, he gives a scornful laugh, unconcerned. "My wife is devoted to me."
*
It's no wonder Liang Yingxiu thinks so. Cheng Jiayi fusses over him and professes her love every day, acting so convincingly that even she almost believes it.
Until the truth comes out one day and the stand-in marriage is exposed.
No one could have guessed that Cheng Jiayi orchestrated her sister's disappearance herself.
Who would have thought that this usually gentle, mild-mannered woman could lead everyone around by the nose?
By then, Cheng Jiayi has already gotten what she wanted and doesn't care about the marriage. She thinks she'll be handed divorce papers, but Liang Yingxiu says, "You went to so much trouble to marry me. Wasn't it because you liked me?"
Cheng Jiayi shakes her head. "No."
Liang Yingxiu grips her chin, his tone hostile. "Jiayi, you just don't understand what it means to like someone yet."
Cheng Jiayi thinks it's funny. She's been acting for six months, and he really believed her.
But when he bends down to kiss her, she finds she can't laugh.
...She overdid it.
*
Liang Yingxiu is a regular in Hong Kong financial news, the youngest person in all of Hong Kong Island to hold the reins of power.
To him, it doesn't matter who his wife is, as long as she does as she's told.
Until he discovers that Cheng Jiayi's obedience is all an act.
For the first time, he thinks being deceived might not be so bad.
From that day on, he starts teaching her business, socializing, dating, and...
It takes Cheng Jiayi just two years to go from the unknown second daughter of the Cheng family to Mrs. Liang, a woman the Hong Kong Island elite all want to curry favor with.
Liang Yingxiu teaches her many things, but never how to leave him.
They once agreed to be a couple in name only, signing a contract that would send them their separate ways when it expired. But now the two-year term is over, and neither of them brings up divorce. Liang Yingxiu has crumpled the paper contract and left it under a leg of his desk.
Cheng Jiayi is drenched in sweat, nervously gripping the edge of the desk.
Liang Yingxiu coaxes her gently: "Baby, how come you still haven't learned to enjoy it after all this time?"
Cheng Jiayi grits her teeth. "You taught me too much. I can't keep up."
"That's all right. We have a whole lifetime to learn at our own pace."
Liang Yingxiu: I'll teach my wife to love herself first, then love me.
1. The leads go from indifferent to in love, with plenty of push and pull. The male lead loves only the female lead from beginning to end, and he's completely pure.
2. No bankruptcy. The female lead inherits the family business in the end.
3. Both leads have some minor personality flaws, but their values are sound. The female lead is not a saint, but she's not a villain without reason either. Everything she does has a reason, which the story will explain.
Theme: Good deeds are rewarded.
