After a Flash Marriage, I Got Entangled with a Brooding Man [Marriage Before Love]

Comments are open. I have over 100,000 words in reserve, so I will absolutely not abandon this novel. It goes premium on November 10, and the chapters from Chapter 15 onward will be locked retroactively. If you've already read them, you don't need to buy them again! Chapter 18 is a massive update for launch day~

Marriage first, love later / brooding man / secret male crush / identity reveal / healing

Cool-faced, carefree, adorably wooden woman x brooding, clingy, green-tea pretty boy

“When I grow tired of this world, I think of you. Knowing that you are alive somewhere in this world makes me willing to accept everything.”, Sergio Leone, Once Upon a Time in America

Xiao Baiwei was convinced there was something seriously wrong with her new husband.

Rumor had it that this newly returned scion of a wealthy family was stunningly handsome and aloof by nature, never so much as glancing at a woman.

But on their wedding night, when she tried to make it clear to this husband she barely knew that she intended to divorce him as soon as she had earned enough money, his expression changed abruptly. He narrowed his long eyes and sneered at her:

“Stop it, Weiwei. Now that we're married, we're supposed to be bound together for life, aren't we?”

Xiao Baiwei was appalled. “Who are you, you creepy guy? How dare you mess with me!”

-

The rumors couldn't have been more wrong.

One night, Xiao Baiwei heard hurried panting coming from her husband's room, along with the suggestive rustle of fabric and a man's low moans.

The name he murmured seemed to be... “Weiwei”?

That was her nickname.

Later, when they shared their first kiss, Lu Yuzhe could only hold her firmly around the waist, his ears red as blood, eyes half closed, lashes trembling.

It was obvious that Xiao Baiwei was the more composed one, taking the lead.

She licked the moisture from the corner of her lips, still wanting more. “You're so inexperienced. Have you never dated anyone?”

Under her astonished gaze, the man blushed and nodded. With his foxlike, bewitching looks, he nuzzled into the hollow of her neck. “I haven't. So will you teach me, sis? 🥺”

-

While he was hospitalized, Lu Yuzhe's attending physician once gave him a test: “What do you think love is?”

Without hesitation, he had written: “Being together forever, even in death.”

Years later, he gave a different answer:

“Love is...” His pen paused here,

“Her very existence is a source of happiness to me.”

Reading Guide:

1. The heroine is not a virgin; the hero is. One-on-one romance, happy ending.

2. The heroine falls in love after marriage; for the hero, it's a reunion after a long separation.

3. Neither lead is perfect. The heroine is self-serving and image-conscious, while the hero is calculating and scheming. They both have their dark sides.

4. The hero is brooding, but not capable of forcing himself on anyone. The scent of the heroine's slap reaches him long before any coercion could.

5. The hero is powerful, but turns into a helpless white lotus in front of the heroine. If you love watching handsome men act pitiful and pout, this novel is an absolute treat!

Inspired on August 31, 2026. A draft has been saved.

Blurb updated on October 23, 2026. Screenshots saved.

-------- Sweethearts 💖 Here's the preview for my next novel --------

College campus | Ensemble cast | Mutual healing | Mutual crushes | Sunny, intensely devoted guy

An insecure, gloomy, socially anxious girl x a sunny, cheerful, intensely devoted guy

A scheming, ordinary girl with sweaty palms x a genius tennis prodigy who's sweet on the surface but dark underneath

[She thought she had carefully orchestrated every step that led to her relationship with Lin Haojun. Little did she know that she was the one being set up.]

The night Yi Bei and Lin Haojun officially got together, she couldn't sleep a wink.

She remembered watching him from across the crowd back in high school. Surrounded by people, the boy had been as fresh and radiant as green bamboo under the morning sun.

She pressed her lips together, not daring to approach him like the others. The letter filled with love poems in her hand had been soaked by her sweaty palms. She had spent the entire afternoon hesitating, never daring to give it to him, until the ink had blurred into a mess.

In the end, she threw the letter into the trash.

-

After they started dating, Yi Bei thought Lin Haojun was the gentlest, most thoughtful boyfriend in the world.

Whenever she felt insecure about her sweaty palms, he would wipe her hands without the slightest discomfort, then interlace their fingers.

He would tell her, “You know, cats sweat through their paw pads. That makes you a cute little kitty too, Yi Bei. ^-^”

Whenever she felt self-conscious about her slightly plump figure, Lin Haojun would wrap his arms around her from behind and say:

“But I think the softness on your body is really cute, Xiao Bei. If you really want to do something about it, how about we go running together every day?”

-

One day, Yi Bei visited her boyfriend's house and found, in the very back of a drawer, the letter she had once crumpled up. It had been flattened and placed inside a clear, airtight bag.

The bag also contained the little hair tie and hair clip she had lost by accident in high school, as well as... a plastic straw she had bitten.

“You've found it, sweetheart.”

At some point, Lin Haojun had come up right behind her. His face still wore its usual gentle smile.

Reading Guide:

1. Both leads have their own dark sides, and neither is perfect. Happy ending.

2. They are almost the same age. One-on-one romance; both are virgins.

3. A youthful, bittersweet taste with a touch of sweetness, healing amid the emotional dampness.

4. The hero seems sunny and cheerful, but is intensely devoted: his emotions run deep, and he is possessive, calculating, and scheming.

5. Both leads are adults.

Theme: Love is infinite.