I Secretly Married My Crush

[I can't fix the typos, or the story will get locked.]

This story is complete and behind a paywall. It went behind the paywall on April 13, with paid chapters running from Chapter 23 through Chapter 53.

Blurb:

Jing Huai always thought he'd spend his whole life single, quietly running an antique shop and getting by.

Then, on his twenty-seventh birthday, his mother personally delivered his birthday present: a lavish yet simple wedding.

What he couldn't believe wasn't that he was getting married, but that his spouse was the person he'd secretly loved before they went abroad for eight years.

Jing Huai immediately sensed something was off, but couldn't stop himself from looking at Shen Yuzhi. He had to admit that after all these years, Shen Yuzhi was still as handsome as ever. No wonder he'd fallen for him!

He couldn't believe Shen Yuzhi would willingly marry him, so he waited for him to explain the circumstances, ready to help him out. They could still call off the wedding, after all. But when Shen Yuzhi spoke, he said he was doing this of his own free will.

Jing Huai panicked.

He pulled out a cigarette, hoping to calm down, only for someone to grab him by the ear. “Smoking?”

The cigarette was plucked from his mouth, and a pale hand flashed past.

A hint of disdain crossed Shen Yuzhi's cool, distinguished face. “Since you're marrying me, you'll be under my care. Smoking? Don't even think about it!”

Jing Huai: Was this joy and sorrow all at once?

Later, Jing Huai learned that the whole thing was just a transaction. But he wasn't sad.

He already had Shen Yuzhi. What was there to be sad about?

In Shen Yuzhi's eyes, Jing Huai was pushy, shameless, and good at bending without breaking. Only later did he realize Jing Huai was simply stubborn to a fault.

Ongoing story: His Older Brother Has His Eye on Me, told from the bottom's perspective

Ruan Zhu was adopted by a wealthy family as a way for them to show off their charity. He had no ambitions and just liked reading novels and slacking off.

Who knew that after waking up one day, he would transmigrate into the novel he'd been enjoying lately?

The novel's male lead had a past much like his own. The ending, where the male lead died taking a bullet for the heroine, made him cry uncontrollably.

Then Ruan Zhu realized he had transmigrated to a point before the male lead was adopted, and came up with a brilliant idea.

Since the male lead became an orphan because of his older brother, then if his brother didn't die, wouldn't he stay a young master? He wouldn't have to live at someone else's mercy, become too insecure to love anyone, or sacrifice himself to save the heroine in the end!

Ruan Zhu has been crouching in a tree for ages. He clearly remembers that the male lead's older brother is supposed to be ambushed here and saved by a traitor, planting the seeds of disaster. So why hasn't he shown up yet, even though his legs have gone numb?

Suddenly, his foot slips, and he falls into a man's arms.

The man smiles, a pair of captivating peach-blossom eyes drawing him in. “What, are you trying to scam me?”

Later, Ruan Zhu successfully prevents the male lead's family from being destroyed and gets back to his old life: reading stories and slacking off.

Then he grabs the male lead by his little suspenders and solemnly imitates Zhang Wuji's mother.

“Ah Sheng, remember this! The prettier a woman is, the better she is at lying!” Suddenly, he hears the man beside him laugh. He turns his head to glance at him, then adds, “Handsome men are even better at lying!”

Otherwise, how would he have been fooled into giving away his whole life?

Theme: People should learn to cherish what they have instead of waiting until it's gone to regret it.