A Relationship Built on Wanting a Stable Job

[New Novel: The Black Cat Alpha CEO's Substitute Bride, now available] Cen Kangning is graduating from college this year. His recommendation for graduate school fell through, and the spring job hunt was brutally competitive. After twenty-two years of being worked like a beast of burden, he's finally tired. All he wants is to lie flat and be a lazy fish. Just then, his family introduces him to someone for a blind date to celebrate his graduation. Cen Kangning was adopted and knew this day would come, so he goes to meet the other party. On the day of the blind date, an auntie shows up instead. His prospective match doesn't even appear, and he's seven years older than Cen Kangning. Cen Kangning isn't keen. Even if he's willing to talk himself down, surely he doesn't have to sell himself for a bride price of 200,000 yuan? Then the auntie calmly explains the prospective match's situation: "He needs to get married quickly because of an elderly family member. He was a university professor overseas, but he's returned to China to work. P University is so eager to recruit him that they're willing to offer his spouse a job placement as a library administrator, with a permanent position." Cen Kangning: "?" "Well, Auntie, it's not that I'm especially interested in a permanent position. I just happen to have always liked older husbands." "Husband, right? Why aren't you saying anything?" He turns with a beaming smile toward the cold, inscrutable man sitting next door, wearing rimless glasses and buttoning his shirt all the way to the top. Qi Zhao, who has been watching the whole thing: "Hmph." When Qi Zhao meets Cen Kangning on their blind date, he thinks the man is frivolous and promiscuous. Who calls a stranger "husband" the first time they meet? But Qi Zhao never dreamed that a few months later, he'd use every means at his disposal, putting all his strength and effort into getting the other man to call him "husband" one more time. Lazy, beautiful shou x disciplined research powerhouse gong A story of a contract marriage turning into true love The Black Cat Alpha CEO's Substitute Bride As an E-rank omega who is neither loved by his father nor his mother, Xia Youran has always known he can't control his own marriage. But he never imagined he'd one day have to take his half-brother's place and marry Lu Zhixing. Lu Zhixing was once the darling of the heavens, heir to the Lu family, an S-rank Alpha, and the dream of countless omegas. Unfortunately, a plane crash left him in a vegetative state, unable to speak or move. Xia Youran chooses to accept reality. So what if his husband is in a vegetative state? It's better than staying at home to be bullied by his stepmother and younger brother, and he can collect a generous living allowance. He'll just think of it as getting hired as a caretaker, the philosophy graduate student Xia Youran tells himself. So he moves into Lu Zhixing's home and becomes his new wife. Every day, he massages and rehabilitates the sleeping Lu Zhixing, becomes obsessed with petting his cat, and secretly plots to change the cat's surname. Until one day... Lu Zhixing wakes up. Xia Youran is so startled he nearly cries. "President Lu, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to steal your cat." But the newly awakened Lu Zhixing just gives him a long look. "You can steal it, just don't get it neutered." Xia Youran: ??? No one knows that after Lu Zhixing fell into a coma, he turned into a cat. Through the eyes of a black cat, he sees through many people around him. Including his biological parents, his so-called fiancee, and his longtime "good friend." Lu Zhixing swears he'll never trust anyone again. Until one day, Xia Youran moves in. The young man bathes him, helps with his rehabilitation, and takes care of his cat every single day without complaint. Lu Zhixing: "I know you love me. It's just marriage, right? Then let's get married. Come here and give me a kiss." Xia Youran, who only wants to pet the cat, not kiss him: "..." "Um, a kiss is fine, but could I kiss your paw pads instead?" Marriage first, love later / Vegetative man turns into a cat / A tale of winning over your husband in thirty-three days Hardworking philosophy graduate student, cat-loving omega shou x Plane-crash victim, vegetative man turned fluffy black cat Alpha gong with pink paw pads, white whiskers, and green eyes Theme: Believe in love. Truth, goodness, and beauty are the path to happiness