[New novel, Winning Your Heart, now serializing. Please add it to your reading list!]
1.
After her mother remarried, Jiang Yiqing became the burden everyone talked about.
She knew that the only way to escape the Jiang family was to get married.
After working for two years, she resolutely suggested marriage to her boyfriend.
On their wedding day, in front of all the reporters, Grandpa Jiang produced proof that the groom had been cheating, humiliating Jiang Yiqing in front of everyone.
Just as Jiang Yiqing thought she would end up a pawn in the Jiang family's political marriage arrangements, Xu Shen came to her.
"A three-year marriage contract. You name the terms." His pale, slender fingers slowly pushed the prenuptial agreement toward her.
Sitting perfectly upright, Jiang Yiqing did not so much as glance at the paper. Expressionless, she asked in a low voice, "Why me?" Her fingers, clenched on her knees, had turned white.
In the reflection of his glasses, the man's gaze swept over the tips of her ears, flushed red. "You need a groom. I need a bride."
Jiang Yiqing stared at the agreement on the table and signed it, feigning composure.
When news broke that the Jiang and Xu families were joining through marriage, the whole city was in an uproar.
Everyone sighed that the Jiang family's burden had struck it lucky.
Only Xu Shen knew that he was the one who had struck it lucky.
2.
After they married, Jiang Yiqing accidentally discovered that Xu Shen had someone in his heart.
They said that person was the moonlight in Xu Shen's heart, someone who had stayed by his side through his hardest days. Xu Shen had remained unmarried for so long because he was waiting for them.
They said that person had been Xu Shen's college classmate, and that he had rejected every arranged business marriage for their sake.
They said that on the night before that person got married, Xu Shen had not only drunk himself senseless, but wept bitterly too.
One day, Jiang Yiqing went to pick up a drunk Xu Shen.
"Your wife now is great. Just forget about the one from before. That was all in the past."
"Mm."
Hearing Xu Shen's hoarse assent, Jiang Yiqing felt a pang in her heart. Her desolate gaze passed through the glass in the door and fell on the man's indistinct face inside. In the end, she turned and walked away.
A voice sounded from inside again.
"I'm telling you, your wife is wonderful. She's beautiful and well-educated..."
The rambling of the old friend next door made Xu Shen glance at his phone.
Gazing at the person on his lock screen, he murmured, "There has only ever been one."
Reading guide:
One-on-one romance / Happy ending / Sweet romance / Many original settings / No real-life inspirations / Marriage first, love later + secret crush / Slow burn
[Coming soon: Winning Your Heart. Please add it to your reading list!] Blurb:
Shen Yan was spoiled from childhood. If she set her sights on something, she always found a way to get it.
Cheng Junyuan was one of those things.
In her senior year, Shen Yan, a student in the software school, took an interest in Cheng Junyuan from the history department. She pursued him relentlessly and did whatever it took to win the aloof heartthrob over.
But after they got together, Shen Yan discovered that Cheng Junyuan was dull and rigid.
So Shen Yan simply turned on her heel and slipped away.
Left behind, Cheng Junyuan was utterly bewildered. He had even decided what to name their future children...
For her, it was a calculated seduction.
For him, it was losing his heart.
Five years later.
Shen Yan, now the owner of her own IT company, heard that Cheng Junyuan was coming back.
After repeatedly studying Cheng Junyuan's photo, Shen Yan slapped her palm on the table and decided to open up a new field of collaboration related to him.
Cheng Junyuan, back at his alma mater to teach, spotted Shen Yan in the audience.
"Cheng Junyuan, I need an expert in museum education right now~" she said in the same coaxing tone she had always used with him.
"What does that have to do with me?" Cheng Junyuan walked past her coldly.
Then Shen Yan stopped him in his tracks, though he had barely been walking, and kissed him by force. "Now it does."
In an instant, the long-dormant flutter in Cheng Junyuan's heart was rekindled.
Bonus scene:
One day, Shen Yan was out shopping with her young nephew when she ran into Cheng Junyuan.
Cheng Junyuan looked at the five-year-old, who bore a striking resemblance to Shen Yan, and froze. "Is this your child?"
Shen Yan smiled, her eyes glistening. "Yes, and yours too."
Just as Cheng Junyuan stood there in shock,
the little boy said with utmost seriousness, "Auntie, you're using me to pick up handsome guys again."
Cheng Junyuan turned and stormed off in a rage.
Reading guide:
1. The story uses flashbacks, interweaving the male and female leads' lives from five years earlier.
Theme: Persistence brings success
