Jiang Nian, a dessert shop owner, transmigrates into the body of a fake heiress in the capital, who has been promised in marriage to a poor scholar who placed third in the imperial examinations.
He has pale, sallow features and a gloomy air. His peach-blossom eyes are cold and distant, and as he stands beneath the eaves, he looks like a beautiful ghost who has wandered into broad daylight.
She admits it: he's exactly her type.
But then he offends the capital's powerful families during the palace exam and is sent away to serve as magistrate of a poor county.
Jiang Nian: “…”
She clutches her golden finger tightly. She doesn't want to suffer alongside a man. Can she get a divorce?
Gu Yanzhi makes the first offer: “Keep up the appearance of a loving couple in public for one year, and I'll help you get what you want.”
Jiang Nian's eyes light up. “It's a deal!”
Dashi County is so poor it can barely scrape by, but luckily the Rich or Not? delivery System comes through. Modern goods can be delivered across time and space.
She keeps her head down and builds her way up, opening a sweet porridge shop, a community square, and a confectionery workshop. The barren county grows livelier by the day.
Her husband in name is gentle and refined in public, fiercely protective of his wife, and behind closed doors, scrupulous about boundaries and proper conduct.
Jiang Nian thinks with satisfaction: Having such a considerate business partner isn't so bad.
It is another ordinary day.
A young gentleman arrives from the capital and quietly sketches her at one of the square's art stalls.
That night,
Gu Yanzhi clings to her like a ghost.
*
Gu Yanzhi is the heir to an Imperial Tutor's legacy, with enemies aplenty.
He plans ten moves ahead. His carefully laid plans send him to Dashi County, where a small mishap leaves him with a wife.
He doesn't mind.
They are married in name only. After a year, they will each go their own way.
That is, until he discovers that his wife's secrets outnumber even his own.
Gu Yanzhi draws close to observe her.
But like a poisonous moth drawn to the light, he gets caught up in the bustle of her world.
He changes tactics, dons the mask of a gentle man, and slowly tempts her.
Little by little, she becomes willing to stay.
As the first snow falls, he overhears her laughing with someone else about leaving.
His eyes darken, and his patience runs out.
This time, he will be more than her husband in name.
A little scene:
Later, Jiang Nian rubs her sleepy eyes. “Wait... You should've said so earlier. I'm actually really into this sort of thing.”
Gu Yanzhi smiles tenderly. “I'm afraid that's not enough, Madam. You have to love every side of me.”
1. HE, both leads are each other's first and only. It's a sweet romance!
2. Set in an alternate version of the Tang dynasty, though the setting is very loosely based on it.
Coming soon: The Cousin Miss Binds Herself to a Pure-Hatred System
[Sweet girl × yandere, healing medicinal cuisine, thank you for adding it to your favorites!]
Ji Yunmian is a nutrition major, a college student, socially anxious and avoidant by nature.
One day, she transmigrates into the body of an orphaned girl who works at an apothecary and gets bound to the Pure-Hatred System.
System: “Host, hate people to earn skill points and become invincible!”
She grimaces. “I'll do my best.”
She can only hate people on the System's list.
Ji Yunmian scrolls to the bottom and cautiously picks the mildest-tempered one: Yan Xunan, her cool, sickly, distant cousin.
From then on, she mooches off the Yan household, making a place for herself with her medicinal cooking and looking for chances to hate him.
Since her hatred is far too subtle, her skill points rise at a snail's pace.
One day, Yan Xunan says he wants to try her medicinal food.
She deliberately makes it bitter and inedible. After he eats it, her skill points rise at a tortoise's pace.
Ji Yunmian's eyes light up. She's found a new method. Every few days, she feeds him her cooking and spreads a few nasty rumors.
Yan Xunan remains gentle as ever, letting her do as she pleases and even praising her cooking.
Her conscience aches.
At the Mid-Autumn banquet, Yan Xunan coughs up blood, staining his pale robes with a broad splash of red.
Everyone cries out in alarm.
Ji Yunmian quietly reassures him: “Keep eating my medicinal food for a while, and you'll get better.”
She puts her skill points into medicinal cooking, then switches to hating someone else.
Yan Xunan lowers his eyes.
After that, he never lets her see him bleed again.
Until one day, he sees her hating someone else.
That night, the moon is dark and the wind is high.
Yan Xunan stands beside her bed, his long sword stained with blood and his smile warm.
“Mianmian.”
Theme: Treading the streets of heaven over the bones of nobles, a bowl of sweetness in the world of ordinary people.
It's really stuck in time, I have a lot of thoughts 😏
The food is coming... The food is coming...
Mr. Gu, what a dish (shakes his head and sighs) [Caigou]
It's tied, please update soon🧋
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh actually tied here