Late Rebellion [Marriage Before Love]

[Next book: Will Kittens Cry Too? Blurb at the bottom. Please add it to your reading list!]

Blurb:

(An unserious rich second-generation heir who coasts through life x a prim and proper young woman who secretly wants to go wild)

Liang Minghe was exactly the kind of man traditional parents couldn't stand: no proper job, dressed to the nines, and constantly attracting attention from women. He looked like he had eight hundred girlfriends on the side.

Zhou Jinqin was the kind of girl traditional parents praised to the skies: a respectable, stable job, a gentle and quiet appearance, and a reserved, polite manner. She looked like a well-behaved, proper young lady.

Her first act of rebellion: quitting her stable job and moving to a faraway city.

Her second act of rebellion: marrying at first sight a man she'd met only three times.

Liang Minghe was exactly as he appeared. Most of what he did was unexpected and unconventional.

On his morning jog, he'd greet every dog being walked along the way.

When people online insulted him, he'd get up in the middle of the night to argue with them for three hundred rounds.

When his grandmother pressed him for a grandchild, he'd pick up a filthy puppy on the street and tell her to call it her grandson.

Maybe she'd become a bad influence by spending too much time with him. Zhou Jinqin realized she was starting to lose her propriety too...

And yet, even a man like him had his serious moments.

During an interview on a radio program, the host asked him a question.

"Some people say your wife looks rather ordinary and doesn't seem like a good match for you. How would you respond?"

Liang Minghe put aside his usual casual manner. "I think you have it wrong. I'm the one who doesn't deserve her."

He smiled and continued, "She's a PhD, while I'm just an ordinary undergrad. I often wonder if I need to go back to school and study further to be worthy of my wonderful wife."

"She's driven, kind, and considerate. I'm lazy and used to taking it easy. If you look at it that way, I'm clearly the one getting the better deal, so people should be feeling sorry for her instead."

Upcoming Book

Next book: Will Kittens Cry Too? Please add it to your reading list!

[Sharp-tongued, touchy, fussy man x cool, quiet woman who has no patience for his fussiness]

1.

A young master from the capital was exiled to Wutongli. The alley was too narrow for cars, so Lan Qi rode a tricycle to pick him up at the entrance.

The young master took one look at the beat-up tricycle and found fault with everything, opening his mouth to voice a hundred complaints.

Lan Qi couldn't be bothered to entertain him. She pedaled away without looking back, and by that evening, rumors that she'd abandoned her husband and child had spread throughout Wutongli.

2.

After the alley's community family-dispute mediator patiently reasoned with her, Lan Qi went back and brought the young master home.

The pampered young master was still difficult once he arrived. One day he complained that the bed was too hard, the next that the food was too sweet. Then he'd gripe about the poor soundproofing or the uncouth old man next door. Every day, he had to find a thousand things to criticize to Lan Qi.

Lan Qi ordered him to shut up.

The young master obediently shut his mouth. The next day, he handed her a three-thousand-word "Open Letter Condemning Old Man Liu for Violating His Neighbors' Mental Well-Being by Snoring in the Middle of the Night," then asked Lan Qi in sign language to put it up with him on the alley's public notice board.

Lan Qi told him to get lost.

A letter arrived from the capital. The young master's life sentence had been commuted to a fixed-term sentence, so he could pack his bags and head home.

The young master really did leave.

3.

In the middle of the night, Lan Qi, unable to sleep, heard quiet sobbing from the window. She pushed it open and saw the young master crouched in a corner with a cat in his arms, his back shaking.

She was silent for a moment, then asked helplessly, "Why are you crying?"

For once, the young master didn't make a snarky remark. He only said pitifully, "I don't want to leave Wutongli."

Lan Qi told him, "No one's forcing you to leave."

The young master lifted his head. Under the streetlight, two tears slid down his delicate face. "But you seem pretty sick of me..."

Lan Qi closed the window and turned back into the house. She didn't look at him again. "I never said that."

Having heard the answer he wanted, the young master turned off the old radio beside him, which was still playing ambient sounds, then hummed as he tossed a newly opened bottle of eye drops into the trash.

Theme: Let's all be a little braver