Pretending to Be Soft and Sweet

Blurb:

Jiang Yunchu was known throughout Nanling City as a beauty with a "willow waist," and countless talented young men fell for her, yet no one came to ask for her hand.

Everyone knew she and Jiang Ao, the son of Nanling City's richest man, had grown up together. They were the golden couple everyone admired.

Besides being rich, handsome, charming, and exceptionally talented, Jiang Ao had always treated Jiang Yunchu with the utmost care and showered her with affection. Whenever he looked at her, his gaze was full of tenderness.

But it had been two years since Jiang Yunchu came of age. She still hadn't married, and Jiang Ao had yet to propose. Everyone thought the match was doomed.

That was until Jiang Yunchu's father held a matchmaking contest for her. Jiang Ao couldn't hold back any longer and came to propose. Using his extravagant wealth, he drove away every other suitor, winning a smile from the beauty.

Everyone then thought the pair were sure to marry.

On a sunny, breezy day, at the moment when the embroidered ball was to be thrown, Jiang Yunchu stood before a crowd of onlookers and tossed it without hesitation to Jiang Ao's sworn enemy, Feng Guan.

The notorious playboy of Nanling, the man everyone avoided.

Everyone was left dumbfounded.

Feng Guan gripped the ball tightly, his gaze inscrutable, something turbulent seeming to stir in his eyes.

Jiang Yunchu and Jiang Ao, the son of Nanling City's richest man, had been childhood sweethearts, innocent and devoted to each other.

Jiang Ao's remark, "Jiang Yunchu is the kind of woman who'll throw herself at any man who crooks a finger," completely shattered her love for him.

What was worse, this man came to her matchmaking contest and privately advised her to become his concubine.

Jiang Yunchu decided to find a stand-in to get rid of him. After thinking it over, she set her sights on his sworn enemy, Feng Guan, the mysterious local tyrant.

She would marry her stand-in and use him to show off their loving relationship. She was determined to make Jiang Ao regret it and realize that she was unattainable too, and that she didn't have to marry him!

But as she kept showing off, her stand-in began to seem a little off. His gaze grew more and more sinister.

Having achieved her goal, she hastily wrote up a divorce agreement. But then she saw Feng Guan sharpening a knife in the room, his eyes bloodthirsty. "Anyone who uses me and then runs away, I, Feng Shaoyou, will cut them into a thousand pieces, wipe out their whole family, and cook their chickens and dogs."

"..."

Jiang Yunchu trembled in fear.

Feng Guan noticed her and smiled lazily, dangerously. "Shengsheng, what brings you here?"

"H-Husband, I missed you."

Jiang Yunchu approached him with a mournful expression, hurriedly crumpled the divorce agreement into a ball, and threw it away.

Reader's Guide:

1. If you like sweet romances, give this one a try. It's 1v1, and the leads don't sleep together before marriage. The hero only looks like a womanizer, so people misunderstand him. He isn't actually one.

2. Both leads are masters of disguise, and the second male lead is a lunatic.

Please add my upcoming novel, Marrying Up, to your favorites.

(The tough girl who knows how to act sweet without compromising herself x the reserved, melancholy, noble young heir)

Chu Yuning was born mute and was never welcome in her family. Her biological father threw her out to the Chu family's country estate, where she lived with her wet nurse. The wet nurse had once been a martial artist and had mastered excellent skills, so she passed on everything she'd learned to Chu Yuning.

Influenced by her, Chu Yuning spent years roaming the streets, calling heroes of the martial world her brothers. She lived carefree, righting wrongs, helping the poor, drinking, and walking dogs.

Then the Duchess of Wei came to discuss a marriage. Only then did the Chu family remember their old promise to become in-laws with the Wei family. The person originally intended to marry into the Wei family was Chu Yuning's older sister, Chu Junyao, but Chu Junyao had already married. Now the match could only fall to Chu Yuning.

Seeing Chu Yuning's tough-girl attitude, the Chu family sighed and hired people to teach her how to become a proper young lady, day and night.

To avoid being put through any more torment, Chu Yuning had no choice but to act sweet and foolish, pretending to be the sort of person they wanted.

After the wedding, her parents-in-law and sister-in-law saw how sweet and foolish she seemed and told her to follow the rules. People around her mocked her for marrying above her station and indulging in wishful thinking. The heir, Wei Jie, was a man no woman could touch but no woman could bear to avoid, and there was no way he'd ever fall for her.

Chu Yuning didn't mind. She knew Wei Jie had wanted to marry her older sister. It didn't matter, because she didn't like Wei Jie either.

To avoid trouble, she kept acting sweet and dumb. Behind their backs, she rolled her eyes: He's just a little handsome, that's all. Hmph, a pretty face with nothing behind it! I couldn't care less.

Wei Jie had been able to hear people's thoughts since childhood. Hearing this, he suddenly looked up, his gaze cold as ice.

Chu Yuning knew nothing about it. She put on a sweet, ingratiating expression for her husband, who suffered from a melancholy illness, while inwardly scoffing: What are you looking at? I'm mute, you're sick. Let's see which of us looks down on the other more!

"..."

How was this woman sweet and obedient?

Chu Yuning didn't want to deprive herself of anything. Every day, she snuck out by climbing over the wall to admire handsome young men with the princess royal, who kept male lovers.

Then, on the night of the Double Seventh Festival, she got drunk and fell into Wei Jie's arms. Her cheeks flushed, and she sighed inwardly: Gentlemen as handsome as jade are still the best. After I get divorced, I'll keep four or five male lovers too. They have to be handsome and young, and excel at music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

"..."

Wei Jie lowered his eyes to gaze at the beauty with her rosy, drunken face. As if he'd discovered something interesting, the corner of his thin lips lifted in a faint smile.

The next day, the melancholic heir Wei Jie left his home for the first time in ten years. Once outside, he did two things:

First, he posted a notice: "Seeking handsome, youthful gentlemen skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, for the role of male lover and jade-like gentleman. Since those who meet the above qualifications are coveting the heir's wife, I need to have a word with them."

Second, he bought some tasty food for his wife.

Theme: Never judge someone by their appearance.