A Marriage with an Expiration Date [Pregnant First, Love Later]

Full manuscript completed, studying for exams right now. Starting at the end of the month, and this time I'll update daily!

Pregnancy before love / rivals-to-lovers / unresolved tension with her archenemy / pure sweetness, no angst

[Cultural heritage preservation x influential figure in Beijing's elite circles]

[Fiery, spoiled beauty x arrogant, aloof CEO who talks himself into falling for her]

Qi Jiamao never imagined she'd end up tied to Yan Zhiming for such an absurd reason.

Yes, after one night together, they were having a baby.

She stared at the two vivid lines on the pregnancy test and immediately booked an appointment with an obstetrician.

After all, who would want to have a child with an archenemy they've always been at odds with?

Qi Jiamao disguised herself from head to toe and snuck into the hospital, keeping it from everyone. But as soon as she walked out of the examination room with her results, she ran straight into Yan Zhiming.

The cool, elegant man narrowed his eyes slightly, then offered a perfunctory bit of concern as casually as if discussing the weather. "Terminal illness?"

His words left Qi Jiamao speechless. For the second time in her life, she felt an impulse to throw caution to the wind. She decided to throw a huge wrench into Yan Zhiming's perfect life.

"Yes. It's a matter of life and death."

She slapped the test results against Yan Zhiming's chest. As the crack in his composed facade finally appeared, she could barely hide her gleeful smile.

Qi Jiamao went home in high spirits. She never expected Yan Zhiming to issue a joint announcement with the Qi Group three hours later, making their engagement official.

She lost her composure on the spot and rushed into the living room to question her father. "Is our family going bankrupt?"

Otherwise, why would he sell her off to Yan Zhiming?

Her father was going through a dowry list hundreds of pages long. He replied cheerfully, "I think it might be the Yan family that's going bankrupt."

Unable to withstand the threats and temptation, Qi Jiamao was forced to move in with Yan Zhiming.

She tried every trick she could think of to make him call off the engagement.

Yan Zhiming was a neat freak. When morning sickness struck, she deliberately threw up all over him. He simply stood up and said stiffly, "I'm going to take a shower."

Yan Zhiming was a CEO, busy with work and out early and back late. She slept all day and couldn't sleep at night, so at midnight she made him drive to a neighboring city to buy handmade pastries from her favorite shop.

He returned just before dawn, faint dark circles under his eyes.

"Satisfied?"

Qi Jiamao nodded, then immediately broke the pastries into pieces and fed them to the cat. She even complained, "They're too sweet. If you want us both dead, just say so."

Yan Zhiming put up with all her antics one by one. Qi Jiamao grew more and more baffled. Finally, when he was massaging her calves, she couldn't hold back and kicked him off the bed.

"Yan Zhiming! Are you made of wood? You don't react to anything!"

The ruthless CEO everyone knew was now sprawled beside the bed, his ears unusually red.

Qi Jiamao heard him mutter quietly, "Even if I did react, it wouldn't matter. We can't have sex in the first trimester..."

Reading Guide:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads' first relationship, happy ending

2. A short-tempered kitty gets carried home by an arrogant giant dog

3. The heroine is a master of witty comebacks, and the hero is extremely rich

Theme: Be self-reliant and take control of your destiny