Deceptive Hopes [Marriage Before Love]

Scheming, sweet-faced architect with ambition (heroine is a fake innocent) x supposedly upright data scientist (hero is a master of playing the innocent)

Zhong Yexing, what are you to me, really? The sweetest honey, or the most painful poison?

Heroine's perspective:

No one in the world started worshipping Buddha and eating vegetarian at such a young age as Zhong Yexing.

The serene young lady, always smiling gently, knelt for hours before Guanyin's statue, her eyes free of desire as a long string of prayer beads trailed from her hand.

No one knew that she had always secretly called Guanyin "Mom."

The person she hated most in the world was her birth mother, who cared only for her disabled older brother and treated her as a bargaining chip.

Even a wealthy young lady like her had to set aside her dignity in front of her prospective husband, seduce him, and wait for him to agree to marry her.

It didn't matter. She would claim everything she was meant to have: money, power, and men who were inconsequential but made nice accessories.

When the game was over and she took off her pretty mask, she would be a rich, shameless woman.

Will it be endless torment or endless seduction, Jiang Zhanwang? The truth is, you'll like it.

Hero's perspective:

Jiang Zhanwang first met Zhong Yexing at her father's birthday banquet. He hardly had a chance to speak to her before their marriage was arranged.

But he thought of himself as dull, so unlike the bright and charming Zhong Yexing, that he politely declined the match, citing his research commitments.

She only looked at him innocently.

As if reproaching him.

After that, Zhong Yexing often appeared in his life. She placed flowers on his desk, wrote birthday greetings for him, and offered advice whenever he was overwhelmed.

He fell for her and gave his parents' plans his tacit approval.

Once married, Jiang Zhanwang thought his life was settled.

But on their first wedding anniversary, she asked for a divorce, shrugging. "Zhanwang, I have no choice. If I don't marry you, I can't get my documents and go abroad."

Only then did Jiang Zhanwang realize she'd deceived him.

She had fooled him, stolen his heart, and played with his feelings.

After many years of love and heartbreak, he returned to his old path, but his heart had grown cold, keeping everyone at a distance. He was trapped in a quagmire with no way out.

Then she stood before him, smiling lightly. "Zhanwang, I'm back."

"Zhong Yexing, if you deceive someone who's truly in love with you..." He still couldn't bring himself to speak harshly to her.

Gentle manners were the foundation of his character, but after meeting her, he became a man consumed by maddening passion.

He couldn't bear to let her go.

Looking back, it turned out the deception wasn't sticky candy, but honey that seeped into his heart.

With you here, I need nothing more.

Content warnings:

(1) The heroine is genuinely cold-hearted at first and doesn't understand love. She only uses the hero to gain the trust of her obsessive mother. Only near the end does the ice slowly melt, and the hero gently embraces her.

(2) The hero will have to win her back.

(3) Marriage first, love later, with relentless pursuit.

Theme: A sincere heart revealed through the clouds and mist.