[Brooding, devoted business tycoon VS spoiled, radiant heiress]
Everyone said Lin Zhiyi must have saved the galaxy in her past life to be born as the Lin family's heiress and marry Zhou Shiyu, a man at the very top of the pyramid.
Only Lin Zhiyi knew how suffocating this "windfall of wealth" was.
When she was eight, an elder led her with a kindly smile to stand before a cool, aloof boy. From then on, her life was stamped with the label "Zhou Shiyu's fiancee." He was quiet, boring, and strict, a perfect statue carved from the heir's mold. She was carefree, laid-back, and loved her freedom, like a wild blaze out of place.
She hated him, and had done so for fourteen years.
At twenty-two, just after getting her diploma, she was dragged off to exchange marriage certificates. She thought this was the climax of her "puppet life," but she had no idea it was only the beginning of the collapse.
A paternity test shattered her dream of being the Lin family's heiress for twenty-two years. As it turned out, everything she had enjoyed, from her surname to the family's favor, was the result of an absurd mistake that began at a hospital.
The real heiress, the girl who carried the Lin family's blood, was found. She had Madam Lin's features and a resilience and composure forged through adversity. She was graceful and generous with everyone, diligent at school and work, and won everyone's approval and sympathy with almost no effort.
Overnight, Lin Zhiyi fell from the clouds and became a laughingstock, a usurper in another's place.
She packed her bags and stood in the luxurious bridal suite, waiting for Zhou Shiyu to end this laughable marriage.
But the man who was always impeccably dressed in a suit and never revealed a trace of emotion merely raised a hand, loosened his tie, and calmly took her suitcase.
"Mrs. Zhou, your home is here, and nowhere else."
Male lead: The Zhou family's head, cold, disciplined, and uninterested in women in the eyes of outsiders. Only he knows that ever since the eight-year-old girl angrily smeared cake across his face, he has never looked at anyone else. All those years of restraint were simply to wait for her to grow up, so he could claim her as his own, fair and square.
Female lead: The Lin family's "fake" heiress, who disguises her loneliness with a bold, rebellious attitude. She hates being controlled, and she hates the male lead who came with the arrangement even more. Only after her world collapses does she realize that the silent "big tree" she had always tried to escape had already put down roots and become her strongest fortress.
Reading guide:
1. Marriage before love. The male lead's secret crush comes true; he's been planning this for a long time.
2. The romance takes center stage. The will-they-won't-they phase is long, with intense push and pull.
"I once thought marriage was a cage that trapped me."
"Only later did I realize it was a kingdom he had built just for me, one that would never fall."
Theme: Never forget your original aspirations
