A Daylight Crossing

When Tong Bai was born, the Jian family was at the height of its power and influence.

Thanks to the friendship between their grandfathers, the Tong family arranged her engagement to Jian Jiaze, the Jian family's second son.

Tong Bai didn't mind. Ever since she was a toddler running around in split-crotch pants, Jian Jiaze had been the only one she liked.

She wrote him love letters, folded him paper cranes, made him pop-up books, and revolved around him like a little sun.

Jian Jiaze was lazy and arrogant, a carefree young master raised amid luxury and indulgence. He was always smiling lazily, the corner of his mouth lifted. “Bai Bai, you like me that much?”

Until one night at a drinking party, Tong Bai saw the best friend she had secretly supported for years wearing her borrowed clothes, lying in Jian Jiaze's arms and kissing him.

Caught by the female lead, who had suddenly walked in, her friend panicked. Jian Jiaze, however, didn't care.

“You were the one who begged me to agree to this marriage. Besides, it was just a kiss.” He smiled lazily.

“Bai Bai, be realistic.”

It was true that the Tong family had begged them. With the project nearing completion, the marriage could not be allowed to fall through.

At the dinner table, Tong Bai's father demanded, “How has Jian Jiaze wronged you? Can't you put up with it for the sake of this family?”

Put up with it, was that it?

Tong Bai did the most practical thing she could think of.

She dug out the marriage contract she had kept for seven years and went to knock on the door of Jian Hanyun, the Jian family's eldest son. Facing the man's cold, deep black eyes, she held her little face sternly and said, “Please marry me.”

*

Jian Hanyun was a full nine years older than her. Back when she was just a little kid running around after Jian Jiaze, the still-young man had already been wearing a suit, silent and solemn, as he steadily took over the Jian family's business.

Now Jian's health was failing, and Jian Hanyun had become the head of the family's vast empire. The money Jian Jiaze squandered came from the allowance Jian Hanyun transferred to him regularly.

Tong Bai had never dared dream of marrying someone like him.

Jian Hanyun asked her only one question.

The man sat at his desk, wearing a silver-striped bow tie and holding a black lacquered fountain pen. He tapped the marriage contract with its nib. His eyes were dark and sharp, his voice calm. “I don't like breaking agreements. Once I sign this today, you won't be allowed to change your mind. Have you thought it through?”

The room was quiet as falling snow. His bearing and words were imbued with the composure of someone accustomed to power.

Tong Bai had always been afraid of him. Nervously, she swallowed. “Mm. I've thought it through.”

She was so nervous that she didn't notice the man's fingertips, turned white from gripping the pen.

*

One day after the wedding, Tong Bai accidentally found a box at the bottom of Jian Hanyun's drawer.

Inside were group photos from the Jian family's Lunar New Year gatherings over the years, but every single one had been cut up.

He had cut out his younger brother in the middle, then joined himself and the girl as pure and lovely as a daisy together, close, fiercely close.

*

Brothers at odds / second male lead fails to win his wife back and regrets it too late / male lead's secret love comes true / female lead falls in love after marriage / age gap / wildly dramatic plot / both leads are inexperienced

Theme: Only cherishing and respecting something can make it last.