Velvet Glow at Dusk

Jian Shu is an ordinary person. She looks ordinary and isn't particularly clever. The only thing she has going for her is that her family is, more or less, a local household that got rich from demolition compensation. If nothing unexpected happened, she'd follow the usual path: go on a blind date with a man whose circumstances were decent enough, get married, have children, and live a life without much excitement.

But then she happened to encounter the unexpected.

The first time she met Li Jinyan, he was at a pharmacy with a beauty, buying emergency contraception.

The second time she met Li Jinyan, a company veteran threatened him with his life, pleading tearfully and desperately, while he remained unmoved, wearing the face of a ruthless capitalist.

After that, whenever Jian Shu saw him, she felt a shiver of fear and wished they could go their separate ways forever, right up until he trapped her against his chest.

Li Jinyan: "You kissed me. You have to take responsibility for me."

Jian Shu: "?!"

*

Jian Shu inexplicably gained a boyfriend.

She originally thought her boyfriend was just a high-level wage slave, but to her surprise, he turned out to be the grandson of the chairman of a multinational conglomerate. He was also sinister and ruthless, showing no regard for family as he poached from his own side.

She only wanted to have a relationship and completely forget the man she'd had a secret crush on for almost ten years. Who could have guessed she'd end up attracting such a persistent menace she couldn't shake off?

Boyfriend -- fiance -- legal spouse

Li Jinyan's change in status happened in one smooth progression. Like a tiny insect caught in a spiderweb, the more Jian Shu struggled, the deeper she sank.

Since that's how it is, they might as well fall together.

Reader's Guide:

1. A slightly chubby heroine who goes timid when faced with the strong x a sinister, scheming CEO

2. Both are each other's first and only, no angst. The male lead is no good

---- Next Book ----

Chen Jinyu has been a little troubled lately. Her man ran away.

He was only someone she'd picked up in the first place, so if he ran, he ran. But he had to vanish at the worst possible moment, which left her in a real bind.

In the late years of the previous dynasty, famine and disaster were everywhere, and the realm eventually descended into chaos. Today, rebels rose in the south; tomorrow, someone in the north declared himself emperor. The fighting decimated the population, leaving fields deserted across the land. Only after great difficulty was a new dynasty established.

All of that was a matter of national importance, and had nothing to do with an ordinary young woman like Chen Jinyu. But the current emperor, in an effort to let the country recover, had issued a decree: "If a woman is not married by fifteen, her family will be held responsible."

Chen Jinyu had been promised in marriage as a child, but the other family thought the Chen household had fallen on hard times and kept putting off the wedding. She was fifteen this year, and if she still wasn't married, her two elder brothers would be punished along with her. So they picked up a man on the road and brought him home.

They'd thought that would be enough to get them safely past the deadline, but now he'd run off without a second thought!

Her brothers spent every day running around the house, saying they'd pick up (or abduct) another man.

Chen Jinyu wouldn't have it. What if they brought back another man who was always scowling, forbade this and that, never said a word during the day, and worked her to death at night?

Looking at the decree, she suddenly came up with a brilliant idea!

*

After a grand funeral, Chen Jinyu became a famously beautiful young widow far and wide~

One day, her two elder brothers came home and said they'd arranged a good match for her. It wasn't a stranger, but their sworn brother. He was a wastrel, but his family was well-off, and there were no respectable elders in his household.

Chen Jinyu was angry, but he was obedient to her in every way and... really quite handsome.

Who knew that right after the wedding date was set, her former fiance from that childhood betrothal would pass all three levels of the imperial examinations and show up with the token of their engagement, demanding that they honor the marriage contract? Otherwise, he would sue the Chen family for breaking their promise and have them ruined.

There were two marriage proposals, but Chen Jinyu only had one self. What was she supposed to do?

Just as the Chen siblings were at their wits' end, the man whose grave mound was barely dry, the one they'd thought had run away, returned in full military gear with his troops, saying he had come to take his new wife home.

Three groups of people blocked the Chen family's gate and fought it out.

Chen Jinyu and her two brothers, battered and disheveled, simply packed all their belongings and fled under cover of night...

In ancient times there were Ehuang and Nuying; today there is Jinyu's three marriages. What a fine tale!

-- Miscellaneous Records of the Yao Era

Theme: Live life earnestly