[The print edition goes on presale at 7:00 p.m. on September 2. Follow Weibo @JunLaiJun for updates.] Coming next: "Married Life Obsession," now open for collection in my author column.
Qin Xiao, president of Yiyuan Group, is aloof, cold, and noble. He's ruthless in business, and everyone in their circle knows his private life is strictly proper. There's never been a woman by his side.
Word has it that the Qin elders are worried and personally chose a wife for him, but he rarely comes home. There's no affection between the couple, and his friends privately wonder when they'll get divorced.
Tang Xi also thinks her marriage to Qin Xiao won't last. They live separately, and each week he only comes home once, when she messages him on Friday to ask him to. The rest of the time, he stays elsewhere and never comes home of his own accord.
Then one day, Tang Xi decides to change her weekly invitation to once a month. On Friday, she doesn't message him to come home.
That night, the man returns home of his own accord, his face dark with displeasure.
From then on, Tang Xi notices that he's acting more and more strangely. He keeps coming home for no reason, as if he has no intention of living apart anymore.
*
Three months into their marriage, Tang Xi's best friend asks how things are going with her new husband. Tang Xi sums it up in two words: "We barely know each other."
Not long after, Tang Xi wakes up in bed one morning and sees a message her friend sent in the middle of the night.
"Are you and your husband close now?"
Her reply on WeChat reads: "She's asleep."
[A sweet romance about falling in love after an arranged marriage]
Coming next: "Jiao Rao," available for advance collection in my author column.
Ji Rao is the Ji family's only legitimate daughter, born into Haicheng's wealthy elite. She's adored by everyone, the center of attention, radiant and spoiled.
To advance the family's business interests, the Ji family and Beicheng's wealthy Shang family decide to arrange a marriage.
Ji Rao is young, so her father seizes the opportunity to suggest to Old Master Ji that they bring home his illegitimate daughter, two years older than Ji Rao, acknowledge her as family, and marry her into the Shang family.
The Shang family is one of Beicheng's top elite families. The illegitimate daughter can't wait to flaunt it in front of Ji Rao. Ji Rao and the illegitimate daughter have been at odds since childhood, and the thought of her and her mother's smug, villainous faces makes Ji Rao sick.
She won't let them use this marriage to climb the social ladder. Before the Ji and Shang families can formally discuss the wedding, she'll win over the intended groom herself. Then her father will have no excuse to bring the illegitimate daughter and her mistress mother home.
Shang Yanjin is the head of the Shang family, a refined and gentle gentleman, said to be a model of virtue.
Ji Rao thinks winning him over shouldn't be hard. But this elegant, graceful man is no pushover. She exhausts every scheme and tries every trick before finally managing to win him over.
A few months later, Ji Rao returns home with Shang Yanjin on her arm. They happen to run into the Shang family, who are at the Ji house to discuss the marriage. Sitting beside the illegitimate daughter is a man, the intended groom she's about to get engaged to.
When the man sees Shang Yanjin, he is both surprised and flattered. He immediately gets up and greets him respectfully. "Uncle, why did you come in person to discuss my marriage?"
Ji Rao: "..." Wasn't Shang Yanjin supposed to be the one marrying into the Ji family? How did it turn out to be his nephew?
Shang Yanjin seems to read her thoughts and calmly introduces him: "Shang Yanqin, my nephew."
Ji Rao: "...?"
So when she overheard her father talking to his mistress outside the study, repeatedly calling out "Yanqin, Yanqin," he meant Shang Yanqin, not Shang Yanjin!
Yanjin and Yanqin sound almost the same. Couldn't this family have picked names with a few more different letters?
*
At first, Ji Rao approaches Shang Yanjin with an ulterior motive. He sees through her little tricks and treats her like an immature child, indulging her as she engineers one chance encounter after another without exposing her.
Later, everyone in Beicheng's social circle knows that Shang Yanjin has a young woman he dotes on and cherishes. She's got quite the nerve: right before Shang Yanjin is about to propose, she runs away.
Later still, Shang Yanjin catches Ji Rao and brings her back. For two whole months, she can't leave his room.
Whenever she wakes in the middle of the night with the man holding her tightly around the waist, she regrets trusting hearsay and believing that a gentleman as gentle as jade could exist.
★ Romance after marriage, with an eight-year age gap
Weibo: @JunLaiJun
Blurb written on October 29, 2020
Theme: Strive to live well
Damn, I can't get enough of Zheng Ting's extras.
Su Zhi's extra episode is so good to watch
After finishing spreading flowers, I actually really want to read the story of my sister and her brother-in-law, hahaha, after all, my brother-in-law is "not a good person" hhhh
It's good to watch but I can't get enough of the extras. I want to watch the extras of Ye Chuxia and Ji Zhengchen.
The good intentions of Su and Zheng are not exhausted yet.
I feel that the pair of Su and Zheng are more interesting, and I still have more to say.
Xiaoxiao: Xixi, do you mind? Mr. Zheng: Zhizhi, call me brother
I quite like the character design, but the whole story seems a bit on the thin side, that is to say, more everyday, with no ups and downs, and the writing style is average.
Qin Mayao, congratulations on getting what you wanted.
Damn, when will the book about Ye Chuxia and Dr. Ji be released? I've been waiting for the baby for two years, woo woo woo