Shirts and Long Skirts [Marriage Before Love]

[A Beijing romance, female diplomat and interpreter x classical dancer]

The next novel will be a marriage-first, love-later story, "Married in Pairs." Please add it to your reading list.

At a bar get-together, her tipsy former high school deskmate said, "Gorgeous Gu, you're almost twenty-six and you've never dated anyone. I'll teach you how to flirt with a handsome guy."

Then she turned around and saw their high school heartthrob. Her deskmate stammered, "He Qingchen?"

He was still so handsome, still fond of shirts, and now worked as a diplomatic interpreter. He was impressive, and all the teachers were proud of him.

He Qingchen smiled like a spring breeze and put an arm around Gu Xiang's slender waist. "I just got back from overseas. I came to pick up my wife... What a coincidence, catching you in the act?"

Everyone: "..."

Gu Xiang was embarrassed, too. The last time they had met was a year ago: they reunited in the morning, got their marriage license in the afternoon, and he left that evening. The marriage license had been a misunderstanding, and it wasn't easy to explain.

*

Gu Xiang's childhood friend heard the shocking news and drove back overnight.

"How did you end up getting married on a whim?"

He Qingchen looked at his old "rival in love" and smiled faintly. "If you get along, you marry. If you don't, you don't."

"Fine, you're amazing. I'm not going to argue semantics with a diplomat."

"But Gu Xiang, how could you get married without telling me? And to one of my high school buddies, no less."

Gu Xiang had no answer. He Qingchen was smugly satisfied.

*

He was like an early-summer shower, washing the dust from Gu Xiang's heart.

But Gu Xiang couldn't understand why He Qingchen had agreed to marry her after meeting her once on a blind date. Was it because she was pretty and could dance, and they'd met a few times before?

It wasn't until she visited the He family's courtyard house and found a stack of sketches in his study, all depicting Gu Xiang in long dresses, that she vaguely recalled their few meetings. She had been wearing a long dress every time.

He Qingchen said evenly, "I drew these in high school and college. It's a shame my skills were so poor. I couldn't capture even a tenth of your beauty."

A few notes:

@ Both leads have only ever been with each other. They were in the same year in high school.

@ He had a secret crush on her. Marriage first, love later.

The next marriage-first, love-later novel, "Married in Pairs":

Playboy x cool beauty

Cheng Jibai, heir to the Cheng Group, was handsome and debonair, and married young, but the identity of his wife remained a mystery.

One day, Cheng Jibai dropped a link into the company's group chat: Vote for number 16.

Everyone took a look. Good grief, it was a poll started by forum users to vote for the prettiest university teacher, based on candid classroom photos.

Number 16 had an oval face, fair skin, and thin gold-rimmed glasses. She had a strong scholarly air.

Half an hour later, at West City A University, Zhong Mei received a message from Cheng Jibai and saw that her vote count was far ahead of everyone else's.

Zhong Mei: Boring.

Cheng Jibai: Should I pick you up after work? Grandma wants us to come over for dinner.

Zhong Mei: No need. I can take the bus.

*

The Zhong family was steeped in books and letters, with a measure of scholarly integrity, but it also produced a disgrace.

Her older brother ran up enormous gambling debts, sold off the Zhong family's house and car, and drove their elderly relative into the ICU. After working her way through school overseas, Zhong Mei came home to find herself homeless.

In her destitute circumstances, Zhong Mei accepted a marriage proposal from Cheng Jibai, the "playboy" who had pursued her in high school.

Besides paying off the debts and covering the elderly relative's medical expenses, Zhong Mei had one condition: "Let's have a marriage in name only and live separately. I have a thing about cleanliness, and you're only doing this to placate your family anyway."

Cheng Jibai: "I'm very clean."

Zhong Mei: "Otherwise, we're not getting married."

Cheng Jibai gritted his teeth. "Fine."

*

Later...

Zhong Mei: "With all these tricks, and you still claim you've never been with a woman?"

Cheng Jibai: "Your husband is a top student, after all. Isn't it only natural to put what you learn into practice and figure things out without a teacher?"

Zhong Mei: "Then why did you put on that playboy image back then?"

Cheng Jibai said nothing, but cursed his scheming adviser a thousand times in his heart.

-

Theme: Stay true to yourself and keep moving forward amid all the glitz and clamor.