Passion After Marriage

My half-raising, mutual-pining romance, Kiss You When the Snow Falls, is now underway. Please add it to your favorites! Married first, falling in love later: a sweet playacting marriage An indulgent, fiercely protective tyrant x a beautiful, sweet-voiced little wife Xin Cheng, the least favored granddaughter of the Xin family, is sent by the old patriarch to marry Li Yanlin of Ansheng Group. She's heard that he's unbelievably handsome, ruthless, violent, and has a thing for elegant, sophisticated older women. Xin Cheng dresses up in Lolita fashion to meet him and tells him she has a severe dependence on Lolita dresses: without one, she feels awful all over. She expects him to refuse the match, but instead he says, "My mom likes girls like you." * Xin Cheng is forced to sign a one-year secret marriage agreement with Li Yanlin, all for the huge payout at the end of their contract. She pretends to be Li Yanlin's Lolita-dressed little wife, often wearing Lolita clothes to show off their loving relationship in front of his mother. Until one day, Xin Cheng is suddenly called in by her TV station boss to host a gala, and Li Yanlin happens to be one of the guests. At the gala, she wears a burgundy off-the-shoulder gown, interviewing him with an elegant, composed smile. He stands tall in a perfectly neat suit and tie, looking at her with focused seriousness. They trade questions and answers with effortless chemistry. After the gala, the man loosens his tie and pins her against the door of their hotel room, asking in a low voice, "A severe dependence on Lolita dresses? You feel awful all over if you don't wear one? Hmm?" Xin Cheng: "..." Later, Xin Cheng finally learns what it means to feel awful all over... * When news breaks that business tycoon Li Yanlin and TV host Xin Cheng have secretly married, the internet erupts. [The girl sweeter than ice cream married a beast!] [If he lays a hand on you, don't put up with it. Expose him! We'll stand up for you!] [If you want a divorce, call me. I'm a lawyer who specializes in divorce cases, with a 99.9% win rate.] That night, Li Yanlin and Xin Cheng protest: I'm the one getting abused here... He pulls open his pajama collar to show Xin Cheng the marks across his chest and back. She glances at him and asks, "Want a divorce? The agreement's almost up anyway..." Li Yanlin's eyes darken. He asks coldly, "Have you forgotten what you told me last night?" Xin Cheng blinks, remembering what she promised at his mother's birthday banquet the night before. Her face slowly turns red. "You said..." The man fixes his eyes on hers and repeats every word: "Hubby, I'll love you forever. I'll never leave you, not in this lifetime..." Xin Cheng: "..." #It was just a line, but the tycoon took it seriously# #We agreed it was all an act, but the tycoon refuses to call it a wrap# #He must be unable to pay me, so he's settling the debt with his body# Bonus scene: At two in the morning, filming wraps up and Xin Cheng, exhausted, falls asleep in a chair in the dressing room. A staff member passing by glimpses a tall man carefully bending over to remove the makeup from the sleeping Xin Cheng's face. Then he crouches down, slips off her high heels, and gently treats the blisters on her heels with cotton pads. Only then does he scoop her up and carry her away, light-footed and quick. The people pretending to pass by: "..." What violence-prone? He's obviously a doting husband! Please add my new story, Kiss You When the Snow Falls, to your favorites! Mutual pining // half raising // married first, falling in love later // age gap An ultra-possessive big brother who dotes on his little sister x a sweet, gentle girl who stands on her own * Reunited after six years The arrogant boy of the past has become the head of a multinational corporation. His commanding presence is so overwhelming that Xu Yunxi doesn't dare get close to him like she used to. On the night she moves into her new home, in a courtyard lit by fireworks, the tall, broad-shouldered man stands beneath the veranda with his hands in his pockets, staring into her eyes as he asks: "You treat my grandfather like your own, and my dog like your own. So what do you consider me..." "...to be?" Afraid of revealing the feelings she's kept in her heart since she was seventeen, she looks away and answers against her will, "I've always thought of you as my older brother." The fireworks fade, and the man's eyes grow still and dark. After a long silence, he nods. Before turning to leave, he murmurs two words: "That's good." * Later, to fulfill the old patriarch's wish, Xu Yunxi and Li Mocen register their marriage in a whirlwind. After the wedding, afraid of falling back into the mire of unrequited love, she deliberately keeps her distance. He also strictly honors their prenuptial agreement. Even when they sleep in the same bed, he never crosses the line. She thinks their marriage, empty of name and substance, will go on like this forever. Until one night, the man returns from a business dinner and corners her in the sofa's far end. The faint scent of alcohol comes with a dangerous, oppressive force. Xu Yunxi's heart pounds as she asks stiffly, "Big brother, what's wrong?" "Who's your big brother?" His scorching breath brushes her ear. He bites her soft earlobe and corrects her, word by word: "I'm your husband." #Click to see how this big bad wolf tricks the little rabbit he raised himself back into his den, then slowly turns her into a flirtatious expert# * Later, Xu Yunxi accidentally finds a thick photo album in a drawer of the bookcase. It's filled with pictures of her and Li Mocen living together when she was seventeen. The last page of the album reads: [I'm so lucky I got to watch my little girl grow up. But what I want even more is to grow old alongside her.] It turns out that through every day she secretly loved him, he had been quietly loving her too. > Bonus scene During lunch break, Xu Yunxi borrows the lounge inside the CEO's office to catch a nap. At some point, the man who had been working lies down beside her. As she drifts between sleep and waking, the air around them grows warmer. Xu Yunxi opens her heavy eyes and pleads softly, "Big brother, let's wait until we get home tonight..." "What did you call me?" The culprit behind her exhaustion slowly rubs his knuckle over her swollen red lips. In a hushed voice, he asks, "You called me something else so sweetly last night. Want me to help you remember?" The scene comes back to her. Xu Yunxi buries her burning face against his neck and murmurs, "Hubby." "Good." The man smiles with satisfaction. "Remember that. Don't call me the wrong thing next time." No one knows how many years he waited to go from being her "big brother" to her "husband." TIPS 1. Mutual pining and each other's first love 2. A little school life, mostly urban life 3. The male lead has no idealized first love 4. No romantic content involving the heroine as a minor Theme: Love and protection