Surrendering to Winter

[Pre-release: Please add my upcoming novel, My Ex-Husband Loses It After the Divorce, to your favorites. Weibo: @Xue Man Shang Gang_] 1. Jiang Wenqi, head of the Jiang family, was exceedingly discreet, but an unexpected news photo of him ringing the bell in New York made him an overnight sensation online. A friend sighed, "He's handsome and rich. I'm so jealous of his future wife." Xu Chuyun clicked on the article. In the Nasdaq MarketSite, golden confetti drifted down, while camera flashes from the media below lit up the room. In front of the technology-blue screen stood a man in a bespoke suit, one hand in his pocket. The face of his watch reflected a cool silver light against his pale wrist. Casual, composed, and aristocratic. The comments were full of things like, [Mrs. Jiang has arrived uninvited!] and [You're all being so mean. Now he'll have to spend ages comforting me later.] That evening, Xu Chuyun returned to the hotel after filming and unexpectedly ran into someone who should have been overseas. He was half reclining on the sofa, eyes half closed, his collar slightly open. He said without much emotion, "Mrs. Jiang remembers to post on Moments, but not to reply to my messages?" Xu Chuyun ignored him and went straight to her room. That night, the man who was usually as steady as a mountain and always in control kissed her damp eyelashes again and again. He murmured hoarsely in her ear, "Be good, don't cry." 2. When word got out that they'd secretly married, all their friends were stunned. At a drinking party, someone joked, "You got married without telling us, Brother Qi. That's not cool." Jiang Wenqi held his wineglass, tapping it lightly with his fingertip. "Our families arranged it." Everyone immediately understood. She was just a pretty ornament. Then someone leaked a video. In the dim light, a woman sat on a man's lap, wrapped tightly in his suit jacket. The man kissed her intently, only releasing her after a long while. He gave a faint laugh. "Is his kissing really better than mine?" The whole internet erupted! The video was taken down within half an hour. The original poster deleted their account and disappeared, while netizens scrambled to guess what was going on. Some said the voice sounded like a top-tier female singer; others said a famous young actress was filming a kissing scene in Hengdian. One fan timidly said, "It kind of sounds like our Chuyun..." Someone immediately shot back, "Are you so desperate to get famous? Nobody cares about some nobody!" As netizens fought tooth and nail-- @Jiang Wenqi [Allow me to introduce my wife, @Xu Chuyun] The attached image showed two marriage certificates. Netizens: ...??? Holy crap, the real Mrs. Jiang!!! For specific content warnings, see the author's note in Chapter 2. One-on-one, each other's first and only love. [I'm a compulsive editor. Pirated copies are incomplete. Please support the official version.] --Upcoming novel: My Ex-Husband Loses It After the Divorce. Please add it to your favorites-- *Dazzling, pampered, and carefree heiress x serious, old-fashioned older man who is secretly extremely controlling and possessive *An old flame rekindled, with a forceful, domineering romance 1. Shen Shiying was a pampered heiress, beautiful and radiant, with a boyfriend she'd been dating for two years. But when her family was suddenly struck by disaster, she had no choice but to break up with him and marry into the prestigious Gu family. Her new husband was Gu Huizhou, the current head of the Gu family. He was seven years older than her, had risen to a high position at a young age, and was famous in their circle for being stiff and proper. In public, Shen Shiying acted sweet and clingy, playing the part of a young wife deeply in love with her husband. In private, she found Gu Huizhou far too serious. He couldn't sweet-talk her or be romantic. When he accompanied her shopping, all he did was silently carry her bags and swipe his card, giving her properties, wineries, and yachts... He was like a soulless ATM that did nothing but spit out money, boring to the extreme. Married life was much too dull. She could see exactly where it was going. Half a year later, the Shen family weathered the crisis and got back on its feet. Shen Shiying began to feel restless and took the opportunity to propose a divorce. "We only married because our families arranged it. There's no real affection between us. You're not my type, and I'm not yours, so why don't we..." Her husband, who had been listening quietly, suddenly interrupted her. "What kind of person do you like?" "Well, naturally..." Someone like my first love. Looking into her usually gentle husband's dark eyes, Shen Shiying stopped talking, feeling a chill run down her back. She finally remembered her husband's reputation. ...Perhaps if she said the wrong thing, something terrible would happen. As she hesitated, her husband continued, "Is it your ex-boyfriend, the one who studied at Cambridge and is about to return to the country?" 2. As expected, Shen Shiying didn't get the divorce she wanted. The two families were deeply entangled, and she hadn't expected to succeed on the first try. The divorce process entered its mandatory cooling-off period, and Shen Shiying moved out of the Ji residence. The day her ex returned to the country, their mutual friends arranged a welcome-back gathering and invited Shen Shiying too. Remembering their past, she went. Her ex asked bitterly how married life was and whether her husband treated her well. As they drank, Shen Shiying had a few too many and couldn't help complaining about Gu Huizhou. That night. Shen Shiying was woken from a hazy sleep by someone kissing her roughly. She found herself locked against a hard, warm chest, with the somewhat familiar scent of bitter tea at her nose. "..." The man, usually gentle and proper, had somehow broken in. He held her chin, looking down at her, his voice cool and dangerous. "You met him?" It was not a question. "..." "What did you talk about? Why were you smiling so happily?" "..." "Yingying, you said a few words to him today, so tonight I'll make you come several times." "..." Shen Shiying finally realized-- Perhaps she'd never understood her husband at all. A rivalry between men / marriage before love [Tip: Apple purchases incur a 30% fee. If you recharge on the website, there are no middlemen taking a cut. One yuan gets you 100 JJB, a great deal.] Theme: Build yourself up first, then love someone else