The Fiancé's Thousand-Layered Schemes

Chen You'an had spent more than twenty years eating, drinking, and having fun when she suddenly got a call from home telling her to come back and get married.

She remembered that she did indeed have a fiancee she'd been engaged to for nearly ten years.

Chen You'an immediately bought a ticket home to call off the engagement, only for her older sister to threaten her with the collection of limited-edition items in her wardrobe. With no choice, she squeezed herself into a wedding dress.

On her wedding day, Chen You'an realized that her bride didn't look quite like she remembered.

They hadn't seen each other in ten years. Had she really grown this tall?

Not only was she tall, she was beautiful, too.

Her manner seemed a little cold, though, and she'd even grown out of her talkative ways.

Chen You'an thought that was fine. As soon as the wedding was over, she'd lay down three ground rules: this was a business marriage, they would respect each other, and they wouldn't contact each other unless necessary.

After all, she lived on the mainland and hardly ever went back to Hong Kong, except for holidays and her dad's birthday.

Unexpectedly, her new wife, Qiao Lin, showed up at the airport with a suitcase, right alongside her.

Chen You'an: What a coincidence. Where are you flying to?

Qiao Lin: Lucheng.

Chen You'an, who was headed to the same place: ? What are you going to Lucheng for?

Qiao Lin: Have I never told you? I'm from Lucheng.

Chen You'an: ?!

Had her bride even changed her place of origin?

It wasn't until she saw her former fiancee again that Chen You'an remembered the woman she'd been engaged to was called Qiao Lin.

Whatever. It was an arranged marriage either way, so they'd just set three new ground rules.

1. This is a business marriage. We won't interfere in each other's affairs.

2. We'll find a reason to get divorced in a few years.

3. (In bold) We won't share a bed. (In bold)

Qiao Lin looked at the most conspicuous rule on the "Three Ground Rules" Chen You'an had printed out and stuck up at home, and gave no indication of what she thought.

As time went on, more and more rules were added.

They went from not sharing a bed to only doing it once a night.

Eventually, Chen You'an tore up the rules herself.

[Bonus Scene]:

After insisting that she would absolutely never share a bed with Qiao Lin, Chen You'an woke up one morning after a night of drinking to find herself in Qiao Lin's bed.

She lifted the covers and saw that she was fully dressed.

Good. Even drunk, she hadn't been tempted by Qiao Lin's beautiful face.

Then she walked out of the room and saw Qiao Lin holding breakfast. Her long hair was loosely tied back, and several vivid red marks stood out on her neck.

Chen You'an's alarm bells went off.

Did I do that? No way!

Qiao Lin merely glanced at Chen You'an and called her over to eat.

Chen You'an reassured herself that the marks probably had nothing to do with her, then heard Qiao Lin say, "Can I borrow your concealer?"

Two months later, concealer had become the fastest-used cosmetic in the house.

-

Chen You'an had always thought that she and Qiao Lin were a case of love after marriage, until she found a sketch while looking for a book in Qiao Lin's study.

It showed her feeding pigeons with a baguette on a street in Paris, a few years earlier.

Blurb written on: 2024/4/12

Theme: Umm... why not?