Madam, Come Down Quickly, It's Chilly on the Wall

[Clever to the point of seeming demonic, sickly man x kindhearted but thickheaded assassin bride]

[I'm done pretending. I want a divorce!]

To avoid being kicked out of the assassins' guild for having too few points, Ye Li gritted her teeth and accepted the highest-bounty contract.

She knew nothing about her target's name or age, only that he wielded a ghost-face fan. Ye Li investigated thoroughly, but was ambushed and forced to take someone else's place as a bride to a sickly man.

She had only wanted to recuperate in peace, but her husband was weak and heavily in debt, and their neighbors kept picking on them.

Looking at her hand, its meridians completely severed, Ye Li made her choice: put on an act.

When the burly neighbor came knocking again, Ye Li shakily accepted the enormous IOU and said weakly, "Husband, I'm dizzy."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the seven-foot-tall man beside her suddenly coughed blood and collapsed stiffly to the ground.

Without hesitation, Ye Li threw herself over him and wailed heartbrokenly, "Husband, wake up! I can't afford your funeral!"

Her cries carried for miles. The debt collector ended up paying them a hefty sum in compensation, and from then on, no one dared provoke this "weakness is might" couple.

A year later, the fake marriage was exposed. Ye Li took the initiative to write a divorce agreement and held it out to her husband.

As Shang Jueyin coughed, he asked, "The one hundred thousand silver taels I owe for your medical treatment: will I have to repay it all by myself from now on?"

Seeing how frail and miserable he looked, Ye Li's conscience stirred. "Then I'll earn it back for you before I leave."

She claimed she was going out to work, but in reality, she was killing and setting fires.

Two years later, Ye Li had earned the hundred thousand taels. After completing one last assassination contract, she retired from the business and nimbly climbed over her own courtyard wall.

In the moonlit courtyard, Shang Jueyin sat with elegant ease, showing no trace of illness. His folding fan bore a familiar skull-like ghost face.

He looked up and smiled. "My lady, come down. It's chilly up there."

Ye Li touched the brand-new divorce agreement in her pocket.

The wind wasn't cold. Her heart was.

#I was just starting to act, while he had already reached perfection

#Good news: I found my assassination target

#Bad news: My cover's blown

Reader's Guide:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads sexually inexperienced, happy ending, mutual acting and double secret identities. The heroine is a straight woman who stubbornly makes things difficult for herself; the hero is a professional troublemaker.

2. After the debt comes the emotional debt. No love-hate drama, just two theatrical spouses teaming up to make everyone else jealous.

3. This might be a historical romance, or it might be fantasy.

Theme: Keep walking, and dawn will surely come