A Gentle Marriage

Marriage first, love later | Complete strangers | Slow and steady | The male lead falls first

Gentle, clear-headed employee X steady, scheming rising tech star

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The year she graduated, Meng Shuhe joined the ranks of people marrying young.

Gu Qingyan was the newest heir to the Gu family, a refined young gentleman with a handsome, scholarly appearance, decisive in his actions and cool in temperament.

She was just an ordinary employee, worlds apart from him.

Three days after they registered their marriage, they unexpectedly ran into each other at work. Only then did Meng Shuhe learn that he was the group’s general manager.

Gu Qingyan said coldly, “At work, I won’t give you any special treatment.”

No one at the company knew about their relationship.

Gradually, rumors spread that Gu Qingyan had no real feelings for his new wife, that they had married in a flash because their elders told them to, and that they would divorce sooner or later.

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Later, when Gu Qingyan was out negotiating, a client offered him drinks. The man declined. “My wife and I have decided to try for a baby.”

At a gathering with friends, he was distracted. After sitting for only a little while, he picked up his coat and left. “I’m off. My wife’s back early from her business trip.”

He was always by his wife’s side and seemed to care deeply. Where was the sign that they were about to divorce?

Later still, Meng Shuhe was promoted several times, and rumors ran rampant. People said she had climbed the social ladder and used improper means to rise to the top.

At last, the rumors reached Gu Qingyan at the group’s year-end meeting.

The man cut them off and asked coldly, “Oh, really? Which powerful person did Engineer Meng climb?”

Gu Qingyan walked straight over to Meng Shuhe and tilted his head toward her. “Wife, what do you think?”

What?! The powerful person Engineer Meng climbed was her boss?

A little scene

Every time Gu Qingyan used “trying for a baby” as an excuse to avoid drinking, Meng Shuhe, as the person involved, couldn’t help asking, “How come I didn’t know we were trying for a baby?”

Gu Qingyan scooped her up in his arms. He opened the bedside table, revealing the gift-box sets he had stocked up on, more than a hundred of them.

“This is the preparation.” Practice makes perfect when it comes to making a baby.

“It began with a tender marriage, and ended with a lifetime of domestic bliss.”

Blurb for Old Rain, New Marriage

Marriage first, love later | She has a secret crush on him | Reunion after years apart | Cozy daily life

Gentle, cool geography teacher X mild-mannered, scholarly professor

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When she reached the age to marry, Meng Shuyu married Shen Jichu, the man she had secretly loved.

At the time, Shen Jichu was the youngest professor in the physics department at Nancheng University, a gentle and refined man, as clear and bright as the breeze and moon.

His top button was always fastened, and he was as precise as a physics equation.

Yet this disciplined and proper man said to her in a restaurant, “How about trying marriage with me?”

Their whirlwind marriage was the most impulsive thing Meng Shuyu had done in her life.

On their wedding night, Shen Jichu remained composed. “We’re husband and wife. Sharing a bed is perfectly normal.”

But nothing happened that night. He respected her completely.

After their wedding, Shen Jichu kept three things in mind: research, reports, and letting her know whenever he worked overtime.

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When his friends learned Shen Jichu was married, they were curious. No woman had ever breached the distance he kept all these years, so they asked him why.

Shen Jichu furrowed his brows and thought for two seconds. “Considerate, sensible, gentle.”

He never mentioned liking or loving her.

The moon in the sky, the snow on the mountain: in the end, they were beyond reach.

Unable to keep deceiving herself, Meng Shuyu stopped having expectations for their marriage.

Noticing Meng Shuyu pulling away, Shen Jichu gradually cut down on his research time, came home early, and learned to cook and how to coax his wife.

Their relationship flourished.

Shen Jichu was holding a bouquet of baby’s breath, ready to confess his feelings, when he saw a divorce agreement. Meng Shuyu had already signed it.

Heavy rain poured down at dawn. Shen Jichu went to Meng Shuyu’s apartment and held her tightly in his arms, showing none of the politeness and propriety ingrained in him.

“Wife, are you leaving me?” His voice held nothing but desolation.

A little scene

While tidying the bookcase, Shen Jichu found a drawing that fell out of a high school physics textbook.

On a rainy day, a boy in a high school uniform lent a girl an umbrella.

The signature read SY.

He remembered the hand-drawn comic Old Rain by Meng Shuyu.

It was also a rainy day. At the university gates, a man lent a woman an umbrella.

Shen Jichu sat on the balcony all night, holding the comic.

Several days later, the International Astronomical Union announced the name of a newly discovered planet: [SY520].

Twenty-eight-year-old Shen Jichu gave it back to sixteen-year-old Meng Shuyu.

“Old rain will fall again. Those destined to meet will meet once more.”

The title comes from “old friends and new acquaintances,” from the lines “How tenderly we greet new friends, how fondly we remember old ones.”

Theme: Believe in yourself, and hope will eventually arrive.