A Night Soaked Through [Marriage Before Love]

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Ming Dai met Meng Weinian three times. The first was when she was seventeen, coming home from school. Meng Weinian happened to be leaving her father's study. He stood by the second-floor railing in a well-tailored suit, smiling warmly as he looked down at her and greeted her.

The second time was when she was twenty-three. In a hotel private room, at a round table so large she couldn't even see the people opposite her, Meng Weinian sat directly across from her, listening with an impassive expression as the elders of the Ming and Meng families discussed her marriage to Meng Xize, his half-brother.

At the time, Meng Xize took her over to toast Meng Weinian.

Meng Weinian smiled as he drank the glass of wine she handed him, then wished her a happy graduation and success in her career.

The third time was in his private luxury car. The driver tactfully raised the partition. Meng Weinian sat in the back, and she sat beside him, head bowed, biting her lip, her expression anxious.

At the time, she was dealing with her boyfriend of one year cheating on her, while her father's business was in crisis and urgently needed a marriage alliance to help the family through it.

Her father had come to her the night before and said that the Meng family was powerful. Her boyfriend, Meng Xize, had yet to bring up marriage because of his cheating. Other wealthy families wouldn't dare oppose the Mengs, so no one would ally with the Ming family at a time like this. Their only option was to marry into the main branch of the Meng family.

Her father told her she could either swallow the humiliation of being cheated on and marry Meng Xize, or put aside her pride and marry Meng Weinian. Those were her only two choices. There was no other way.

Meng Weinian had just spent a long time talking with her father in the study. Afterward, he went straight to his car. She had followed him on impulse, but didn't know what to say. The whole thing just seemed absurd.

Her boyfriend had betrayed her. Did she really have to marry his older brother to save her family's business? It wasn't a matter of ethics or morality. She just couldn't get past it.

Meng Weinian remained silent, gazing at her with his deep, gentle eyes. She clutched the hem of her skirt, her eyes shifting from confusion to a deep red, tears about to fall. Only then did he speak, his soothing voice carrying the mellow warmth unique to an older man. “I’ll help your father. As for our marriage, you don’t have to take it seriously.”

Ming Dai abruptly looked up, her eyes full of gratitude as she met Meng Weinian's gaze.

At the time, she thought Meng Weinian had said that because he was a true gentleman, as pure and noble as the moon, and disdained using marriage as a bargaining chip. She also thought that, given his power and handsome looks, he had plenty of admirers, and she would never be the one to take the place of the Meng family's matriarch.

But later, in Meng Weinian's private residence, she found herself wearing only thin clothing, trapped between his body and the bedcovers. The man's forceful advances left Ming Dai breathless, her beautiful face flushed red as blood. She pushed at him with both hands, afraid to meet his dark eyes. Head lowered, trying to evade his teasing, she said in a trembling voice, “Y-Your secretary is waiting outside.”

Meng Weinian kissed her soft lips, his voice low and husky with desire. “Let him wait.”

Only then did Ming Dai realize that Meng Weinian's words in the car had been a way of retreating in order to advance. He knew her inside and out, and he was determined to have her.

2. Ming Dai is beautiful, with the cool reserve unique to a great beauty. Her frail health means she is always surrounded by medicine, giving her the additional, indescribable charm of a delicate, sickly beauty. Meng Xize undoubtedly likes her, and Ming Dai is the only woman who can be his wife.

He only seeks excitement and has fun with other women. When Ming Dai discovers that he has been keeping a college student, Meng Xize is about to break things off with the student, apologize to Ming Dai, and prove his devotion. Then trouble strikes the Ming family's business.

Things take a turn. Meng Xize realizes that Ming Dai's father needs the Meng family's help, so Ming Dai won't leave him. He changes his mind and decides to wait her out, letting her come crawling back to him.

He waits and waits, but she never comes. Just as he can no longer hold back and is about to confront Ming Dai, news that his older brother has registered his marriage to her spreads throughout the entire elite circle.

On his older brother's wedding night, Meng Xize stands outside his bedroom, eyes bloodshot, and listens all night.

Delicate, sickly beauty × pseudo-gentleman

Notes:

1. Six-year age gap.

2. A light, sweet romance.

3. While the heroine is in a relationship with the second male lead, she has no romantic involvement with the male lead.

Theme: Enjoy the present to find freedom.