Wild Birds and Canaries

Marriage first, love later. She runs, he chases.

Powerhouse business executive VS laid-back slacker who lives off others

One day, more than a dozen gleaming black cars suddenly arrived in Huai County, a small, obscure town. Every single license plate began with the character for Beijing.

Cong Shan saw them and took off running into an alley.

"Are you possessed?" Feng Xiyang grabbed her. "Why are you running?"

Cong Shan was close to tears. "My husband is here. He's scarier than a ghost."

Feng Xiyang's mouth fell open. It took him a moment to react before he exclaimed, "Didn't you say your husband liked men, drowned after running away with someone, and left you a widow?"

Cong Shan wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled more bitterly than if she were crying. "...He came back from the dead."

The cold wind howled. A car window at the mouth of the alley slowly rolled down.

When Cong Shan saw that eternally expressionless face, her scalp inexplicably prickled.

She dug her nails into her palm and forced out two dry laughs. "...What a coincidence."

"Get in. Now."

Zhao Jinyue sat in the car in a suit, his face cold as he looked her up and down. His voice was sharp. "Do you want me to get out and fetch you?"

Cong Shan glanced at the alley entrances around her. They were all blocked.

She was quick to get the hint. She hurried over, opened the car door, and slipped inside in a flash.

Once in the car, Cong Shan looked at her reflection in the window from every angle. Her makeup made her look like one of the Eighteen Bronze Men. Even passing dogs wouldn't give her a second glance. She racked her brains but couldn't figure out where she'd slipped up.

After holding it in for a long time, she finally asked, "How did you find me here?"

Zhao Jinyue lifted his eyes. His gaze was dark and ominous, and the corner of his mouth curved slightly. "I heard a young widow had come to Huai County. Not much to look at, but a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. I came to see for myself."

Cong Shan's lips curled as she narrowed her eyes and teased him in a slippery, drawling tone. "So Mr. Zhao likes widows?"

The atmosphere in the car instantly grew tense.

The man's jaw clenched. "Zhong Congshan, you think I'm dead?"

Cong Shan turned to look out the window and bit her finger, muttering under her breath, "A living widow is still a widow..."

Zhao Jinyue was furious.

That night, a level-ten tsunami struck a suite at a five-star hotel in the city. The man pinned her hands above her head and leaned down toward her...

Cong Shan's whole body burned, and her legs went weak with fright. "Zhao Jinyue, what are you doing...?"

"Didn't you say I liked men?" The man pressed closer inch by inch, his smile terrifying. "It's just a husband's duty. Why are you scared, little widow?"

She always had a way of making him fly into a rage, and she always had a way of making him abandon his principles again and again.

Later, on the title page of a book on the desk, Cong Shan saw a line written in vigorous, slender gold-script calligraphy: I compared you to a golden bird in a cage. The day you yearn for distant lands, I'll wander the world with you.

Only then did she realize how much this man, who had obsessive-compulsive disorder and severe cleanliness issues, measured time down to the second, and never allowed himself to make a single misstep in life, had compromised for her.

She was the greatest unexpected turn in his life.

With you in this life, I have no regrets.

Theme: May you keep the heart of a child all your life.