Contract marriage | Woman falls in love first | The man chases his wife after losing her
Plenty of people liked Xu Yuting. He was heir to the Xu family's power, steady and capable, and known throughout Yancheng as a refined gentleman.
Yet the one who ultimately won this difficult-to-reach flower was a young woman no one had heard of: Lin Qingjia.
The news of their engagement made the whole social circle sit up and take notice.
At the engagement banquet, a curious guest asked how the marriage had come about.
Xu Yuting overheard his fiancée telling someone, “Maybe... if you never forget someone, they might eventually answer your feelings?”
It was a very clichéd saying, but she described it as a tender, delicate story of a young woman's unrequited love.
Love at first sight, a reunion abroad, several chance encounters, and finally a marriage between their two families.
She even added with a soft laugh, “Of course, the main reason is that he has the same good taste I do.”
Her playful, effortless remark drew admiring looks from everyone present.
She's quite the storyteller, Xu Yuting thought.
Her secret crush was made up, but the rest was true. Anyone who looked into it would find much the same story. What she had left out was the two-year contract tucked away in the safe in his study.
He was Party A, and Lin Qingjia was Party B.
The contract made it clear in black and white: he needed a stable marriage to take control of the group company.
She was young, sharp, clear-headed, and short on money.
She was the perfect choice for a marriage with a clear purpose.
The two-year term passed in a flash. With a forceful hand, Xu Yuting became the group's largest shareholder, and once again found himself a top-tier eligible bachelor.
His friends threw him a lavish bachelor party and even invited his childhood sweetheart, the one he'd always cherished.
He got thoroughly drunk.
As usual, the driver asked where he wanted to stay for the night. Without thinking, he gave the address of their marital home.
The house was empty. In the study's wastebasket lay a few crumpled scraps of paper. One read, “I wish you happiness, and I wish myself...”
The rest of the writing had blurred in the water and could no longer be made out.
Later, when he found Lin Qingjia again, he asked what the missing words had been.
His ex-wife coolly replied, “A fortune.”
Lin Qingjia had once had a crush on someone.
Later, that person entered her life and confidently handed her a contract. “I'll provide the money, you provide the person. A fair exchange.”
Lin Qingjia didn't ask, “Why me?”
Because she knew that no matter how absurd the answer might be, it couldn't possibly be, “Because I happen to like you too.”
She signed her name, putting a two-year end date on this love.
*
“You are the traveler, and I am the scenery. I can't stop you from passing by.”
The title comes from Miriam Yeung's “Rare Guest.”
Basically, I wanted to write a story about a man chasing his wife after losing her.
Theme: When falsehood is taken for truth, even truth becomes false.
