I Take Your Side

[Coming soon: Beyond the Line, stealing someone’s partner. Please add it to your favorites.] Wen Wanyi was independent and outstanding throughout her four years at university, with a resume that landed her an offer from a top investment bank. The night before she started, she had a one-night stand with a man who was drop-dead gorgeous. A month later, she received a pregnancy test notice, along with the personal business card of the company’s CEO. Jiang Xushen was a scion of a prominent wealthy family, the founder of a top-tier investment bank, and an unreachable figure of immense influence. Nobody knew that he was the boss of the company Wen Wanyi had just joined. Her new boss was young and accomplished. To his employees, he was completely devoted to his career and impossibly handsome and aloof. Wen Wanyi had planned to keep the whole thing hidden, but one night, while meeting a client, she and the man unexpectedly saw the pregnancy test notice together. She kept a calm face, but her heart was racing. Jiang Xushen’s refined face remained impassive, and his voice was steady and composed. “When are you free to go register our marriage?” - At work, Wen Wanyi was his investment banker. At home, she was Mrs. Jiang. Wen Wanyi was focused on her career and convinced that this marriage was only temporary. But one day, after a late meeting with a client, she ran into him outside the restaurant where the business dinner was being held. The man’s face was cool and his voice low. “Mrs. Jiang, have you forgotten your prenatal appointment tomorrow?” At first, Jiang Xushen slept in the guest bedroom. After two months living together, he moved to the living room. Two months later, he moved into the master bedroom. Two months after that, he was already used to putting on a coat in the middle of the night and going out himself to bring Wen Wanyi a bowl of sour soup from beyond the Third Ring Road. Wen Wanyi objected. “Didn’t we agree you’d only sleep in the side bedroom?” Jiang Xushen: “It’s a normal marital right to build intimacy.” The investment bank’s business kept climbing, and even Wen Wanyi’s standing at work rose along with her growing reputation. At a business banquet, the Jiang family’s heir accompanied his wife, changing her shoes and helping her change clothes in full view of everyone. Someone asked who had been the backbone behind the Jiang family’s success over the years. Jiang Xushen answered calmly, “Mrs. Jiang deserves the credit.” - Before meeting Wen Wanyi, Jiang Xushen was a clear-eyed commitment-phobe. Only later did he realize that she was the ideal he’d been pursuing all his life. Five-year age gap / Pregnancy before love / Slow-burn romance / Sweet marriage story Refined CEO × gentle, independent woman The setting and content are fictional, including the work details. Please don’t apply them to real life. Beyond the Line synopsis: During college, Qu Yi thought of Zhou Siwei as famous, aloof, and hard to get along with. Back then, he was the son of a venture capital tycoon, and she barely knew him. Later, after she started working, Zhou Siwei became the client for her risk assessments, and they gradually had more dealings with each other. She was dating Lu Yu. Zhou Siwei had been Lu Yu’s college roommate and was now the real power broker in the business world. She and Zhou Siwei were no more than business acquaintances who exchanged polite greetings. She expected her life to continue peacefully that way. Until one day, Lu Yu got drunk at a business dinner and called her to come pick him up. Qu Yi assumed someone had already helped him into a car. In the drizzling rain, she lowered her umbrella and opened the door of a black Lincoln. Zhou Siwei was sitting in the back seat. She froze. “Sorry.” Zhou Siwei looked up at her, his voice flat. “Lu Yu’s over there.” Qu Yi nodded and started to get out, when a voice behind her said, “Do you want to tell him I was the one who took you home last time?” - In Qu Yi’s mind, she would marry Lu Yu. Their relationship was steady, their feelings secure. They seemed like the perfect couple to settle down. Until their relationship teetered on the brink and they had a falling-out. Qu Yi finally asked, “Mr. Zhou, we’re just business partners.” Zhou Siwei looked at her. “We are now. That doesn’t mean we always will be.” “I’m getting married.” “Yes. Does he know we’ve kissed?” Beyond the line, amid the tides. They kept the distance they were supposed to, yet all the while felt as if they were drowning in a hidden undercurrent. Zhou Siwei had always wanted to “steal” Qu Yi away, but he’d never found the right “opportunity.” Qu Yi would never know that, through all the years she never noticed, someone had been watching her. Quietly, secretly. Zhou Siwei had been waiting for her for far more than seven years. The stillness after a blizzard was like an uninhabited place. As darkness falls, who will be the last light? Business tycoon × risk analyst Male lead’s secret crush / Stealing someone’s partner / Restrained yearning and tension / Powerful man pursues his wife Theme: Build an independent identity and work hard to establish your own career