After Marrying the Big Shot Who Never Comes Home

Main story complete~

[Coming soon: I Really Want to Live Off Others, Says the Lazy Pallas's Cat. Please add it to your favorites, thank you!]

[Blurb]

Three months into her marriage, Tu Yan couldn't remember what her wife, Ji Shiqing, looked like.

Other than the day they signed the marriage papers, she'd lived alone in a mansion. Her only job was to attend family gatherings on behalf of her powerful wife.

Her wife was a woman of few words. Whenever Tu Yan sent her a message, she would transfer her some money, so Tu Yan kept up her daily check-ins.

Word spread through their social circle that Tu Yan was devoted to her wife, and people pitied her for being so unhappy.

After three months, Tu Yan had become a little rich lady. She was ready to divorce and go enjoy her freedom. It was a loveless marriage, after all, and all it took was the elders' approval. Then came another family gathering.

"Who's been picking on you?" asked an elegant, well-dressed woman.

Tu Yan's eyes welled up. "Shiqing... wants to divorce me..."

Everyone froze, then turned as one to look at Ji Shiqing, seated in the corner.

The woman murmured, "Go talk to her."

Who was this woman? She looked familiar, but Tu Yan didn't know her. The lighting was too dim to see her face clearly. Could she be someone important in the Ji family?

If so...

"Big Sis," Tu Yan began to complain, "I love her, but she only comes home in the middle of the night for that, and then complains that my chest is too small. She's a bird soaring high, destined never to stay by my side..."

Ji Shiqing's brow twitched. Her expression was unreadable. "Come home with me. Can we talk there?"

"Shiqing doesn't like me bringing people home," Tu Yan said, keeping up her act. "Can we go to your place?"

*

Tu Yan figured her powerful wife must really be busy. She hadn't even shown up for the divorce. At a party celebrating her newfound singleness, Tu Yan fell for a beauty.

The beauty wore a plain white shirt and jeans, with the fresh-faced awkwardness of someone new to the workforce. Among all the middle-aged people in suits, she looked utterly pitiable.

Tu Yan stepped in to save her, then whisked the down-on-her-luck beauty away.

And so began the heartwarming tale of a rich woman rescuing a beauty. The two fell deeply in love, and their days together were happy and sweet.

Not long afterward, Tu Yan heard a piece of gossip: her powerful ex had found a substitute lover who looked just like her.

Tu Yan: My ex is in love with me?!

Afraid she might be forced into a domineering romance, she hurriedly opened her ex's chat and wrote: We've already ended things. The past is like smoke. I wish you well.

Ten minutes later, her girlfriend, who'd gone out to work, suddenly came home and stared at her with red eyes. "Baby, are you trying to run away again?"

*

Ji Shiqing got married, thinking it was nothing more than a dull arranged marriage.

Her wife was wonderful, checking on her every day. It felt like online dating, and before long Ji Shiqing had fallen for her.

Her wife loved her just as much. Everyone in their social circle knew it.

Their mutual love was wonderful, so despite her busy schedule, Ji Shiqing made time to attend a family gathering and surprise her wife.

Her wife surprised her first.

Fine. Ji Shiqing angrily transferred another ten million.

Fine. Her ex-wife was using her ex-wife's money to keep her ex-wife.

[Coming Soon]

After working herself to the bone for half her life, Meng Jue died suddenly and woke up inside a cultivation novel, as a Pallas's cat from a fallen family, one who could transform into human form.

The roof leaked and the windows let in the wind. She was determined not to work herself to death. A fluffy little creature ought to take it easy and coast through life.

She'd either sleep at home or go watch the commotion at the village entrance.

One day, she came across a woman being held down and kicked. They were about to force her to marry the village chief's foolish son, but Meng Jue hurried away.

There was only one reason: the woman was Chu Shengci, the future villain of the original story, who would kill everyone who had seen her at her lowest.

The woman gently tugged at her clothes. Pale-faced, she looked up at Meng Jue with trembling eyes and bit her lip.

Meng Jue: ...

Her heart softened and her head got carried away. She spent every last coin she had to rescue the woman and take her home.

Now their family was even poorer. Meng Jue prepared herself for a life of alternating between hunger and full meals, but Chu Shengci was a super-hard worker, all thin arms and legs and tireless energy. How could Meng Jue let her do all the work alone? And so began days of working herself to the bone.

Plowing fields, raising pigs, growing vegetables, building walls and patching the roof: there wasn't a single day of rest.

One night, Chu Shengci took out a cultivation manual and gently told her she wasn't allowed to sleep and had to practice diligently. Meng Jue's whole world came crashing down!

She started thinking about leaving.

They had enough food and money saved, but Meng Jue still worried that Chu Shengci wouldn't manage well after she left. So she worked herself to the bone, day and night, making the household even more prosperous. Only then did she nod in satisfaction.

When Chu Shengci was out, Meng Jue left behind a letter, took just a few flatbreads, transformed into her original form, and swiftly slipped away.

*

Meng Jue didn't want to be a workhorse. She wanted to be a happy little Pallas's cat. After enjoying her freedom for a long while, she heard a rumor that the leader of the Hehuan Sect doted on cats. She came up with a new plan.

Pallas's cats belong to the feline family, so why shouldn't she count as a kitty? She bounded off to the Hehuan Sect to take advantage of the situation.

Except...

Why was Chu Shengci the woman sitting in the seat of honor?!

Chu Shengci caught her firmly by the hind legs and smiled dangerously. "Now that you're here, don't even think about running away, kitty."

Meng Jue kicked her legs. "I'm not a cat. I'm a ferocious beast!"

She'd planned to pretend to be a cat, take it easy, and look for a chance to escape. But when had Chu Shengci found out she was Meng Jue? She'd never transformed in front of her before.

There was no getting away now. She was kept around to cultivate night after night.

But why didn't Chu Shengci say it was a dual-cultivation manual sooner? If she'd known that was what they were practicing, she wouldn't have left in the first place. Meow, meow, meow~

Theme: Every season is endlessly beautiful. Love life, love yourself.