The Caramel Trap

I've been under too much pressure lately and can't seem to write this kind of delicate love story. I'm badly stuck, so updates will be sporadic for now.

[An aloof beauty x a timid little ray of sunshine]

[Married first, love later / The second male lead takes the lead]

1

Ever since childhood, Jiang Tian has played the part of the "good girl" who follows Du Mingyu around.

Gentle and sweet, always willing to do whatever he asks.

One remark from Du Mingyu, "She's pretty obedient," was enough to make her follow him devotedly for ten years. But he looked down on her for all ten of them.

One rainy night, with his arm around the new young model he'd set his sights on, Du Mingyu sneered:

"Jiang Tian? Ha, you think I don't know she likes me? She's just a little beggar trailing after me. She should take a good look at herself and see if she's even worthy of me."

That was the first time Jiang Tian gave up on love.

2

At twenty-four, Jiang Tian's life was falling apart on all fronts when she unexpectedly received an offer from a mysterious young aristocrat.

He wanted to marry her by contract, and the terms were generous.

Jiang Tian agreed, and then she met a man as cold and distant as the moon in the heavens.

Ye Zhixun.

Ye Zhixun was so proud and self-possessed that Jiang Tian thought she'd never see him lose control.

Until, by the river in Xingcheng, he suddenly grabbed her arm

and pressed a kiss to her lips, passionate and uncontrollable, mingled with the damp river breeze.

Before Ye Zhixun could say a word, Jiang Tian closed her eyes briefly. "Mr. Ye, I know you're in a bad mood today. It's okay, I'll forget this happened."

She was used to being the "good girl."

Besides, Ye Zhixun was different from Du Mingyu. He treated her far too well, and she shouldn't put him in an awkward position.

Jiang Tian didn't know that there was no starlight by the river that night. After she left, Ye Zhixun stood alone in the river breeze for a long time.

3

Jiang Tian, a newcomer to voice acting, unexpectedly shot to fame with one of her works, bringing her to the public's attention for the first time.

The media also uncovered that this unknown voice actress was the newlywed wife of Ye Zhixun, Xingcheng's rising star and CEO of KME.

Du Mingyu came looking for them and gritted out to Ye Zhixun, "Give me back what's mine."

"What's yours?" Ye Zhixun lowered his eyes and drew Jiang Tian close. "She's my legal wife. We have a marriage certificate and held a wedding banquet. She can sign the papers for my surgery while I'm alive, and inherit my estate when I'm dead. If a mosquito has sucked a few drops of your blood, does that mean you belong to the mosquito?"

4

At seventeen, Ye Zhixun first met Jiang Tian in a narrow alley in the shantytown near their school.

He was young and powerless. To escape a power struggle, he'd transferred from Xingcheng to this small southern city by himself, but he couldn't escape the malice that followed him.

He was watched, followed, and plotted against by his own relatives, who wanted him dead.

Ye Zhixun kept a sharp knife by his pillow. Whenever he woke in the middle of the night, he felt there was little point in staying alive.

That day, driven into the narrow alley, he calmly prepared to face death, without feeling much of anything.

At the end of the alley stood a girl in a white cotton dress, her smile dazzling in the sunlight.

She stroked the stray cat in front of her.

"Winter is cold, but once it's over, everything will be fine. Spring will come soon, so grow up strong!"

She was the glimmer of hope that saved him when all seemed lost,

and a caramel-colored trap he willingly sank into for love.

"Jiang Tian."

"Hmm?"

"Winter is over."

Jiang Tian tilted her head, unsure what Ye Zhixun meant.

But Ye Zhixun lowered his head and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips.

Winter was over, and the stray cat had grown up strong.

So... will you give him a home?

[Reader's Guide]

* The manipulative man is just a backdrop. He'll suffer the consequences later, and the real male lead will take his place.

* The male lead has been secretly in love with her for years and has carefully plotted everything. The female lead falls in love after marriage.

* Both leads are sexually inexperienced, and they save each other.

Theme: Hold the hand of the one you love