Marriage Is a Must

Before she turned twenty-five, Song Chiyu had never imagined marrying anyone other than Xie Yunjin. Marrying him meant marrying for love.

But it all ended in a humiliating, miserable mess.

Later, having given up on love, Song Chiyu finally agreed to let her family arrange a match for her.

However, on the day of the blind date, her prospective match didn't show up. He even took a taxi and ran off in the middle of the night.

So when his elders came to apologize, the usually kind young woman began making outrageous remarks. "Actually, Second Uncle, you've still got a lot of charm."

The noisy dinner table fell silent.

Song Chiyu had no idea what everyone else was thinking. She only saw the refined man across from her calmly undo his shirt cuff, a smile playing on his lips. "Is that so? If you don't mind, Miss Song, I could do the job too."

**

Qi Yanzhou was the youngest history professor at Cheng'an University. Born into poverty, he had never lost his lofty ambitions. He treated everyone like a perfect gentleman, but in truth, he was cool and distant, with an exceptionally strong sense of boundaries.

After they married, Song Chiyu and Qi Yanzhou remained polite and distant with each other.

They'd eaten together once on the day they registered their marriage, and barely saw each other otherwise.

Even when she explicitly told him she was willing to fulfill her marital duties, he never once spent the night.

She'd thought their days would go on peacefully and uneventfully like that, until she was transferred to the Gobi Desert for archaeological research. When she ran into the local "big shot," she needed the person in charge of the Northwest antiques world to settle things.

In the antiques world, everyone knew that everything north of the Qinling Mountains belonged to the Qi family. The Qi family was not only a renowned top collector, but also the sole authority in the Northwest. Their current head was extremely low-key, rarely appearing in public except at major donation ceremonies. People knew his name, but no one ever saw him.

Everyone was speculating when they saw a man in a windbreaker step out of a Jeep in the distance.

He was tall and slender, his brows sharp. Standing amid the endless Gobi, he was like a solid rock that could not be moved.

Before the project leader could even say a word, he smacked the local "big shot" upside the head.

The hooligan who'd been cursing a moment earlier immediately broke into a beaming smile, calling him "Master Qi" over and over.

The noisy scene fell silent.

Everyone looked frightened, thinking an even more ruthless man had arrived. But the man in charge of the Northwest casually put out his cigarette, fastened his undone shirt cuff, and looked toward the utterly inconspicuous Song Chiyu in the crowd. "Miss Song, fancy meeting you here."

Song Chiyu, who had come to the Northwest on her own without consulting anyone: ...

Don't ask...

It really was a coincidence.

**

In Song Chiyu's eyes, Qi Yanzhou was a man of few desires, who seemed to care about nothing. Everything was as insignificant as a drop in the ocean to him.

That was until the third night after he arrived in the Northwest. Xie Yunjin came to win her back, riding a green train through a sandstorm. The refined man said nothing in front of anyone, but in the middle of the night, on a metal-framed bed, he kissed her until she could barely breathe.

"Miss Song, if he's your true love, then what am I?"

Song Chiyu, kissed too breathless to answer: ...

Later, she finally understood what it meant to do the cruelest things in the gentlest voice.

The more refined a man seemed, the more terrifying he could be when jealous.

An old flame rekindled / seven-year age gap

"Antiques-world powerbroker x gentle, reserved art conservator"

---- Please follow and collect my next novel, "Spring Breeze Doesn't Understand Romance" ----

On the first day that Chi Lie transferred from the special police unit to a local police station, a video taken by a passerby accidentally caught him. Thanks to his stunning looks, he went viral across the internet.

Before long, people everywhere were calling him their husband.

But he refused interviews and wouldn't livestream. In person, his piercing, icy, peach-blossom eyes made anyone who tried to approach him too intimidated to speak.

Netizens also dug up his personal account.

Even before he went viral, someone had already been boldly commenting on his posts:

"Husband, look at me."

"Husband, I miss you so much on this rainy day. Look at me."

"Husband, it's the start of autumn. Dress warmly, so I have an excuse to look at you."

Netizens speculated about who this brave soul could be...

But from the day he became famous, the account never appeared again.

*

As a seasoned office drone with low energy and social anxiety, Yu Li recharged every day by looking at handsome guys online.

One college guy from a sports school stood out among the ordinary-looking posters. He gave off such a vibrant, energetic air that even looking at him for a couple of seconds was enough to recharge her.

So, thinking, "Even if I get a little bold, he won't know who I am," she quietly stalked his account online for half a year, occasionally leaving a comment or two.

Until he went viral across the internet...

He wasn't a sports-school student. He was an actual police special forces officer.

One meter eighty-six tall, eight-pack abs, and capable of subduing a two-hundred-jin criminal with his bare hands.

While everyone wondered whether she was his real girlfriend, Yu Li quietly opened a search engine: Is it illegal to flirt with a police officer without knowing who he is?

#I'm not crying, I'm just a little dead inside#

-

Yu Li spent over half a year walking on eggshells, but nothing happened. Gradually, she put the whole thing out of her mind, until work required her to go to the police station.

In the enormous office, there was only one man, handsome, tall, long-legged, and staring straight at her. Just sitting there, he gave off an overwhelming air of intimidation.

Yu Li steeled herself and tried to strike up a conversation.

Who could have guessed that the handsome man, who'd been watching her coldly for nearly ten minutes, would suddenly scoff and ask, "Why aren't you calling me 'husband' today?"

Yu Li: "Huh? Hu-husband?!"

#What do you do when the guy you flirt with online turns out to be right in front of you? Asking for a friend. This is urgent.

#She's an introvert. How could she possibly have caused this much trouble?

Later, the vanished account reappeared in the comments: "Ladies, if you meet a handsome guy you like, just keep calling him 'husband' until he decides he's your husband. Tested and proven. I just saw him today."

The ladies in the comments: ?

Saw what? Tell us everything.

Low-energy introverted softie x high-energy, poker-faced special police officer

*Don't read this as a reflection of real life. It's just an ordinary, fluffy little romance.

Theme: Strive to improve yourself, and don't give up on your dreams.