Tentatively scheduled for December
#MarriageFirstLoveLater
#LoveAtFirstSight
The twentieth year of the Republic.
Everyone on the border says that the He family's second daughter marrying the head of the Chen family is a political marriage understood by all but acknowledged by none.
Chen Jiyuan is gentle and refined, always courteous but distant with everyone. A month into their marriage, the couple have rarely even sat down to eat together.
He Zhaoning is the youngest daughter of the He family, and has always been spoiled. If he finds her troublesome, so much the better. They can each do as they please.
That day, she stood beneath the corridor, speaking coldly and deliberately bristling with hostility, waiting for him to grow tired of her. He came through the rain with an umbrella and tucked her damp hair behind her ear.
"You are my lawfully wedded wife."
She froze for a moment, then sneered. What was the point of pretending to be devoted?
After all, no one knew that this seemingly gentle head of the Chen family controlled the shadowy lifeline of the jade market in western Yunnan. And the reason he had appeared in the rain with an umbrella that day was that the Chamber of Commerce's accounts did not add up. He had come to investigate in person and find out whom his new bride was bribing.
Each of them carried a host of secrets. They shared a bed but not a heart.
Later, when He Zhaoning was ambushed in the west of the city and a bullet grazed her ear, someone stepped out of the alley. He pulled her behind him with one hand, while the gun in his other hand stayed trained on the attacker's forehead.
Only then did she see the truth: there was no cold detachment in his eyes. They burned with a blazing fury.
Afterward, he gripped her wrist and dragged her back. Annoyed, she shook his hand off and tried to break free. "Let go. We're only using each other..."
He stopped abruptly and turned around. The lamplight beneath the eaves fell over them, and he lowered his head, silencing the rest of her words with a kiss.
"He Zhaoning," he said. "Who said we're only using each other?"
On the surface: They treat each other with respect and use each other for their own ends.
Behind closed doors: He remembers exactly which pair of earrings she wore today.
Theme: Broken jade mended, a perfect match amid chaos.
