Stranger, Old Love

[Pre-release: Please add "Don't Use a Cat's Paw to Flirt with Me" to your reading list]

Wen Zheng, a coldly beautiful woman with ruthless methods, has two little secrets no one knows about:

First, her walk-in closet is packed with candy-colored, cute and girlish clothes.

Second, she's fallen for He Shu, her refined and well-mannered male secretary.

When He Shu disappears, Wen Zheng thinks her secrets have sunk into oblivion.

At least, surely no one else in the world knows...

that she wears pumpkin shorts with a bunny tail when she's at home.

Then, two years later, at a certain banquet, she spots the recently returned second young master of the Mu family.

He looks exactly like the male secretary who betrayed her back then...

Mu Changming, a new socialite known for being a frivolous playboy and a smooth operator, also has two little secrets no one knows about:

First, his original name was He Shu.

Second, he's fallen in love with his own brother's arranged-marriage partner.

A little scene:

Daytime.

Wen Zheng tosses him a stack of documents. Her red lips move, her gaze icy. "Didn't I already teach you this? How can you still get it wrong?"

Nighttime.

He pins Wen Zheng in a corner, running his thumb across her lips. "Didn't I already teach you this? How can you still get it wrong?"

Scheming business-world up-and-comer x cool female CEO

Her new love and her old flame are both him

* 1v1, happy ending, rekindled love, reunited from the very first chapter

* The male lead is me in disguise: I'm jealous of myself

[Pre-release: "Don't Use a Cat's Paw to Flirt with Me" blurb]

Miss Baili throws away the file on her eighteenth arranged-marriage candidate.

Her friend is astonished. "Seriously? You don't even like Shao Bairu? He's old money in Wucheng, with a solid family fortune and a great income!"

She raises an eyebrow and shows off her limited-edition handbag and luxury car keys. "Do I look like I need money?"

"He's so handsome, too!"

"Do I look like I don't have handsome men chasing me?"

"He owns a villa at Ziyu Manor!"

"Do I look like I can't afford a villa?"

Her friend falls silent for a moment. "I heard Shao Bairu has seven cats at his villa! Every one of them is plump, adorable, sweet, and well-behaved! A few are celebrity cats who've been in magazines and TV dramas!"

"Do I look like..."

Baili Yu, a cat lover, suddenly goes quiet.

I do.

Two days later, news spreads through Wucheng's social circles that the Baili and Shao families are about to arrange a marriage.

The prospective groom says he has seven children.

Baili Yu says she's quite happy to become a mother painlessly.

*

They marry only to appease their elders. After the wedding, Baili Yu and Shao Bairu agree not to interfere in each other's lives and to part at any time if either finds true love.

Onlookers sigh: Those fake spouses both have strong personalities. Living together is bound to be rough.

Some even claim they saw Miss Baili sneaking out of her mansion alone at dawn with a cat carrier on her back, wiping away tears as she went. She was apparently mistreated by her husband and planned to steal the cats and run away...

A friend calls and patiently advises her, "If you're unhappy, just get divorced sooner rather than later."

At the time, Baili Yu is lying on the double bed at Ziyu Manor, with troublemakers number one through seven in her arms. Frowning helplessly, she says, "I asked a divorce lawyer. The cats won't be awarded to me."

Before she can finish, a well-defined hand reaches over and rudely hangs up on her, then coaxes away the cats clinging to Baili Yu.

Shao Bairu pulls his wife close.

Even the lofty young master has to plead in a quiet voice sometimes. "For the sake of the seven kids, don't bring up divorce again."

Theme: Acceptance and love