Dear readers, I've run out of inspiration, so I'm putting this one on hold for now. If you like the blurb, feel free to add it to your favorites. I'll slowly come back and fill in the story later~
[An outwardly frail and innocent, secretly scheming beauty with a chronic illness X an apparently aloof and abstinent, actually jealous and devoted husband]
"At the end of the story, the prince finally found his Cinderella, and the two lived happily ever after."
But what happened to the girls who tried to squeeze their feet into the ill-fitting glass slipper?
That was what Zhong Nian always wanted to know when she read Cinderella as a child.
1.
One day, Pei Yan went to pick Zhong Nian up after work. The car stereo happened to be playing "City of Stars."
Zhong Nian frowned and coldly switched off the music. "I don't like this song."
"Is that so?" Pei Yan started it again, his expression utterly indifferent. "But I happen to like listening to it."
As the mellow, soothing song played, Zhong Nian was on the verge of losing her temper.
Pei Yan suddenly gave a faint, mocking smile and lowered his head slightly.
His hot breath brushed her ear. His smile didn't reach his eyes as he murmured, slowly and softly, "Do you really dislike the song? Or does it remind you of him?"
After all, everyone who knew them knew that "City of Stars" was Song Qiyan's favorite song. He loved it so much that he even sang it when he proposed.
Pei Yan had been there, too.
It was the first time he had seen Zhong Nian cry, because the man she'd loved for years had truly fallen for another girl.
"Pei Yan!" The past had suddenly been dredged up. Zhong Nian called his name coldly. "Don't you have anything better to do?"
"I just want to know the answer." Pei Yan's lips curved slightly.
"Fine. Then stay here by yourself and think about it!" Zhong Nian unfastened her seat belt and slammed the door as she left.
She didn't hear Pei Yan sigh behind her, his voice barely audible. "How much longer will it take for you to forget him?"
2.
Everyone in Pingcheng's wealthy circles knew that Zhong Nian loved Song Qiyan.
So when the rising business tycoon Pei Yan helped the failing Song Group through its crisis in exchange for marrying the Song family's adopted daughter, no one could understand why the young, successful Mr. Pei would marry a woman whose heart belonged to someone else.
At a business gathering one day, after a few rounds of drinks, someone boldly asked him that very question.
No one in the private room spoke. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone thought Pei Yan was about to lose his temper, but he suddenly spoke in a detached voice. "I love her. I've loved her for ten years."
He knew about the scheming and pretense beneath her fragile exterior, and the selfishness and coldness beneath her winsome appearance. But love has no reason. When she was fifteen and still in love with Song Qiyan, Pei Yan fell hopelessly in love with her.
Reader's guide:
1. Marriage first, love later. Primarily set in the modern city, with some school-day flashbacks.
2. The heroine isn't a traditionally good and kind character. She's imperfect.
Blurb dated July 16, 2023. Screenshot saved.
Theme: Love means choosing each other.
