Marriage first, love later | A gorgeous, haughty beauty who likes to make a fuss x A young master who dishes it out but can't take it | A bickering couple | Instinctive attraction | An unconventional story of a woman with a secret crush
"Marrying Lu Qiange was Min Ci's dream as a young girl. An arranged marriage to Lu Qiange wasn't."
1
Lu Qiange and Min Ci have been married for a year, and have only seen each other a handful of times.
Because of her job, Min Ci travels frequently and spends very little time at home.
For the past year, they've stayed out of each other's way. In bed, they're like kindling set ablaze; once they get up, they're strangers wherever they go, and nothing between them is in sync.
At the Lu family's grandmother's birthday banquet, Lu Qiange and Min Ci attend hand in hand, putting on a loving show for everyone.
After the banquet, the grandmother keeps Lu Qiange behind to lecture him. Min Ci leaves first and waits by his car.
The grandmother goes on about how he should treat Min Ci well, leaving Lu Qiange's mind in a muddle. As he walks to his car, he happens to hear Min Ci talking about their marriage to someone on the phone.
"It's just like that. We can't get divorced anyway."
When she meets his gaze, her expression flickers for once.
Lu Qiange keeps watching her. When she hangs up, he curls his lips into a smile of indeterminate meaning. "Miss Min, walls have ears."
Min Ci thinks she understands what he means. "Got it. Next time, I'll say it somewhere private."
That only irritates Lu Qiange more.
2
One time, after drinking, Lu Qiange suddenly wonders if Min Ci agreed to marry him because her job keeps her away from the capital so much.
His friend gives him a puzzled glance.
"How'd you end up playing the resentful husband?"
"Wasn't this what you wanted before the wedding? Are you feeling lonely now that you're home alone?"
He is so annoyed that he can't be bothered to say anything more.
He takes out his phone to message Min Ci, but doesn't know what to say.
Sometimes he thinks his wife is hard to please.
Only later does he realize she isn't hard to please at all. She just wants a little love.
Without love, she'd rather not have this kind of "kindness."
Reading guide:
1. The story opens one year into the marriage. The leads are each other's only ones, body and soul, but they really do bicker at first.
2. The heroine has a secret crush; the hero falls for her after they marry.
3. The characters aren't perfect.
*Chronostasis is the illusion that the first jump of a clock's second hand seems to last longer than the second, because the impression from the first glance lingers in the mind.
*Blurb revised on August 5, 2026.
Theme: Finding true love.
