Married First, Loved Later, with My Sweet Little Shadow

Newly added to my upcoming works: The One I Can't Win Over. Add it to your collection on my profile. The blurb is at the very bottom ↓

Blurb for this novel:

Zhao Wenqiao is the only daughter of the Zhao family. She has a cold, odd temperament and a terrible reputation in their social circle.

But with her illustrious family background, suitors line up to court her. In the end, the honor of marrying her falls to the Ming family.

Word has it that at a dinner between the two families, Ming Xue, who was supposed to get engaged to her, openly showed her displeasure and was scolded by her mother in front of everyone.

Just as everyone thought the marriage was off, a few months later news broke that Zhao Wenqiao had registered her marriage.

The whole social circle was abuzz, with everyone betting that she would be divorced within three years.

*

Ming Yue is the Ming family's overlooked second daughter. She has a remarkable talent for art, but she's quiet and well-behaved, always hiding in a corner at banquets like a docile little rabbit.

One day, someone noticed the dazzling diamond ring on her ring finger.

It turned out that although she was still at university, about to graduate, she'd already married young.

Everyone around her looked envious, thinking that someone like Ming Yue must have a happy married life.

*

Everyone was waiting to laugh at Zhao Wenqiao, mocking her as someone nobody could stand, and certain she and her spouse were only pretending to get along.

Then, at a banquet, she appeared with Ming Yue. The two were intimate and obviously deeply in love.

The guests whispered among themselves: They're putting on an act.

Then everyone watched, wide-eyed, as Ming Yue put her arms around Zhao Wenqiao's neck and whispered sweetly in her ear, calling her "sis" over and over.

"These shoes are rubbing my feet so badly. I need you to carry me, sis."

Anyone could see that this didn't look like the troubled marriage the rumors described.

The whole room erupted.

Damn it! Even someone everyone hates gets to find love!

[Bonus Scene]

On a weekend, Ming Yue waited at a school crossing for the light to change, listening to her companions gossip.

She followed their gaze and saw a woman with a weary, aloof air leaning against a sports car, holding milk tea and a little cake she'd waited in line to buy.

Their eyes met. Ignoring the shock of those around her, Zhao Wenqiao walked over to Ming Yue, freeing one hand to take hers.

A bold onlooker followed them and suggested going for a drive in her car.

Zhao Wenqiao had just helped Ming Yue into the passenger seat and closed the door. She turned to the others, giving them a cold look with her drooping eyes.

"It's a two-seater. There's no room."

Reading Guide:

1. [Cool, world-weary 176 cm top x Reserved, obedient 157 cm bottom]

2. Same-sex marriage is legal. Older woman, marriage first, love later. Seven-year age gap.

3. Upcoming work opened for preorders on July 5, 2024. Blurb screenshot dated November 17, 2025.

4. Hope you enjoy reading =3=

----- Upcoming Work: The One I Can't Win Over -----

Also known as The Art of Speed Seduction

[School Beauty x Down-and-Out Heiress x Employer]

With her mother seriously ill in bed and her father having jumped to his death, Xia Jinxing went from the apple of her family's eye to drowning in tens of millions in debt overnight.

Then one day, a woman appeared out of nowhere, disrupting her quiet, hopeless life.

Xia Jinxing knew of her: Zhuang Lan, the young head of Huayuan and a tech tycoon featured in financial magazines.

At the shop, the woman sat across from her. Her features were half-lit and half-shadowed, her gaze distant and indifferent.

She said she could help Xia Jinxing out of her urgent predicament.

Staring at the astronomical figure on the check, Xia Jinxing was swayed by self-interest and asked,

"What do you want me to do?"

Zhuang Lan flung a stack of photographs onto the table.

The girl in them had clear, pure features and a gentle air, like an uncut piece of jade.

"I want you to make her fall in love with you within six months."

Xia Jinxing accepted Zhuang Lan's terms.

On her first day after transferring schools, she saw the girl from the photographs.

Shi Ruoyun seemed to embody everyone's fantasies of romance.

She was approachable, capable, and from a wealthy family, the darling of her elite academy.

Even though Xia Jinxing had approached her with ulterior motives, she had to admit that she'd fallen for her.

From then on, she launched an all-out pursuit.

She picked up the violin again, crammed on the books and movies Shi Ruoyun liked, and started hanging around her usual library seat to engineer chance encounters.

She also ran laps around the track with Shi Ruoyun, wore her school jacket with its unique scent, and hid with her in a cramped equipment room, their fingers interlaced.

The plan had its twists and turns, but it went as expected.

When Shi Ruoyun rejected an arranged marriage for her at a banquet and came out publicly, Xia Jinxing knew: the fish had taken the bait.

She took the huge transfer she'd received and vanished without a trace.

Scene:

Rain began to fall from the sky, a few scattered drops drifting through the car window.

A woman sat in the back seat, a long, slender cigarette between her lips. Its crimson ember reflected in her eyes. She glanced sideways at the two people silently facing off in the distance.

Five years later, they met again.

Shi Ruoyun held a black umbrella. Her eyes were red at the corners, her lashes beaded with moisture like rain or tears.

Through the curtain of rain, she stared at the girl opposite her in stunned disbelief.

"Jinxing..."

Xia Jinxing's breathing quickened, but she stood rooted to the spot.

Watching her former lover reunite with someone from her past, Zhuang Lan sat silent in the car, coming back to herself only when the cigarette burned her fingers.

How boring.

She stubbed out the cigarette, then reached out the window. Her voice was hoarse, carrying an unmistakable command.

"Xia Jinxing."

"Come here."

Note: Speed seduction, also known as the art of the pickup artist, is a manipulative tactic used in sexual relationships. The full term is Pick-up Artist, abbreviated as PUA.

Reading Guide:

1. No love triangle betting. The school beauty is the main couple, while the employer is the rejected one. Yes, you read that right! The school beauty storyline is a battle of equals in love, while the employer storyline is about coercive possession.

2. No crossing the line while underage. One-on-one, happy ending.

3. Contemporary setting, old tropes, all the bloody melodrama, Mary Sue elements, jealous rivals, and groveling after the fact.

4. The characters' values don't represent the author's. Written from a wicked stepmother's perspective. Everyone is bad. Lots of twists, so proceed with caution!

5. Psychological concepts in the story have been researched as carefully as possible.

Theme: Cherish the person you have now