Name: Ripe and Blushing
Author: Tang Shumo

Synopsis

Clear-headed, rational beauty and antique painting restorer VS cold, controlling powerful man from Beijing's elite circle | Older, fatherly type | Secret crush | Marriage before love | Second male lead chases wife to the crematorium

Synopsis One

Everyone in Beijing's wealthy circles knew that Lin Ranyue was the apple of the second young master of the Yan family, Yan Shiming's eye.

After three years of passionate pursuit, a romantic proposal that caused a sensation across the city, and the bond they'd shared since they were young, everyone had long assumed she was destined to become the second young Madam Yan.

She'd once thought life would probably be just like that: following the happily-ever-after everyone else saw for her and living a peaceful life.

Until Yan Shiming's childhood sweetheart returned from abroad, and the man who had once knelt before her in front of thousands of people cheated on her.

On a night of pouring rain, she left in a sorry state and walked straight into a cold, aloof figure.

A faint, cool woody scent lingered around him. His dark eyes were solemn, his profile sharp as a blade. He took her, drenched from head to toe, back to his home.

Beneath the dim lights, his cool fingertips lightly brushed her flushed chin. His voice was as faint as the night mist, yet every word rang with conviction:

"Want revenge? Marry me."

No tenderness, no promises, just a transaction that gave each of them what they wanted.

Lin Ranyue agreed to the sudden marriage.

She moved into his private villa, wore his shirts, used his cup, ate the breakfasts he made, and accompanied him to all kinds of events, standing openly beside the most distinguished man in Beijing.

At first, no one believed in them.

Yan Huaishang was composed and self-controlled, famous for keeping women at arm's length.

Even Yan Shiming mocked her: "My eldest brother has no heart. He could never fall for anyone."

Everyone was waiting for her to get dumped again.

Until, at an extravagantly luxurious banquet, someone accidentally pushed open the half-closed door of a lounge and witnessed a shocking sight

Lin Ranyue sat on the sofa, while Yan Huaishang crouched before her. Her slender high heel had been taken off, revealing her delicate ankle.

The most mysterious and untouchable big shot in Beijing's elite circles had his head bowed, his thumb pressed against her swollen ankle as he massaged it with just the right amount of pressure.

His eyes brimmed with a deep tenderness and concern that would not fade. His voice was so soft it was almost pleading: "How about not divorcing me?"

Synopsis Two

Lin Ranyue has a secret. Since childhood, she's been secretly in love with the Yan family's mysterious, aloof eldest son, Yan Huaishang.

He's a bright moon hanging high in the night sky, there only to be gazed upon. No one dares touch him.

But she was reckless enough to lay her hands on that moon while drunk, on the night she learned he was leaving the Yan family.

When he woke up, he gave her a cold look.

In that single glance, Lin Ranyue understood: he didn't like her.

She was shameless, had no self-respect, and deserved to be hated.

So she never dared do it again.

Later, he was the one who proposed a marriage of convenience.

Lin Ranyue didn't dare hope for more and assumed they were simply using each other: she would get revenge on the person who betrayed her, and he would get the shares he was entitled to.

When the time was up, they'd go their separate ways.

Besides, he didn't like her in the first place.

Until she accidentally discovered his "condition."

He told her in a hoarse voice that it was the "trauma" she'd left him with all those years ago, and that he needed her to "treat" him.

Her eyes red, she nodded.

Later, in a warmly lit room, Lin Ranyue was in tears.

Yan Huaishang gently wiped them away, coaxing her in a husky voice:

"Didn't you promise to treat me? You didn't cure me just now... We have to do it again."

Content warnings:

1. The heroine dated the second male lead, but they were never intimate.

2. The heroine had a crush on the male lead as a teenager.

3. The second male lead's cheating will be depicted early on, and the marriage takes place around chapter 20.