Love Begins in Winter [Marriage Before Love]

[A compulsive reviser. My new novel next door, When True Love Arrives, Play It in My Mind, is currently updating.]

Liang An doesn't believe in marriage, yet at twenty-three she impulsively marries a stranger she has only met twice.

At the time, Jiang Xun was the heir to a corporation and a renowned child of heaven, while Liang An was from an ordinary background, a graduate student consumed by her thesis.

After getting married, the contract couple spend six months in different countries.

They meet again on a Monday morning.

Her colleagues gather to gossip about their new boss's no-nonsense style. By the end, everyone is nervous and urging one another to be careful.

Liang An is among them, nodding along.

Unfortunately,

when she turns around, the new boss is standing behind her, his expression cool.

They silently pretend not to know each other. After work, Liang An hesitantly explains, "...I didn't know this was your company."

The man beside her glances at her, his smile faint. "What, does the boss's reputation affect his employees' work?"

-

Jiang Xun values time above all else. He married on impulse just to appease his elders, and even signed the divorce papers well in advance.

Everyone is certain that two people with such different personalities and family backgrounds won't stay married long.

After all, Young Master Jiang is ascetic and indifferent.

He only loves work and never bends for a woman.

Until one day, the R&D department goes out for dinner, and the boss joins them, making the atmosphere at the table somewhat awkward.

Liang An texts him to get him to leave: [Why don't you head home first? Everyone feels awkward with you here.]

Her colleagues know she's married, but they've never met her husband. Seeing her hammer away at her phone, one of them slurs drunkenly, "Is your guy that clingy? He's even nagging you while you're out eating."

Liang An is as startled as a spooked bird and moves away from the person beside her. "...How could that be! I'm not even that close to him."

When she gets home and takes off her coat, someone pins her against the door by the waist.

The man behind her bites her earlobe, his laugh soft and ticklish. "We're not close?"

"Want me to help you remember?"

--Hoping dead wood will bloom again, hoping you will love me for a long time.

#ContractMarriageBecomesReal #DailyLifeOfAnIceColdCEOTurnedIntoAPuppyByHer

[Tips]

1. Married first, in love later. One-on-one romance, both leads sexually inexperienced, and the male lead falls first.

2. Soft candy R&D engineer x heir to a food company

3. See the author's note in Chapter One for content warnings.

4. The blurb has been screenshotted and saved.

5. Book title: Love Begins in Winter, by Simon Van Booy

-Next novel's blurb-

When True Love Arrives, Play It in My Mind

When Song Cun was fifteen, she had a crush on a boy in her class.

She clumsily hid her feelings. The boldest thing she ever did was secretly wait at the bus stop every morning, then hop aboard as soon as she spotted the figure in the back row and happily head to school.

After two semesters, Song Cun never saw that familiar figure again.

After asking around, she learned that Qi Yu had withdrawn from school and moved to France with his whole family.

A secret crush that had never seen the light of day ended without ever coming to fruition.

–

After starting work, Song Cun gets a Samoyed. As it happens, her dog develops separation anxiety from the neighbor's golden retriever, and becomes too lovesick to eat or sleep.

Walking the dog for someone, inviting someone to eat, adding someone on WeChat, waiting for someone to finish work...

For the sake of her best dog's friendship, Song Cun secretly turns her old crush into her dog's new friend.

Two months later, her department offers a three-year overseas training opportunity in Paris, and the company chooses Song Cun.

She books two plane tickets, one for herself and one for her dog.

To avoid complications, she only tells Qi Yu that they won't be walking their dogs together anymore.

–

In late autumn, Paris is awash in colorful falling leaves.

Song Cun is having coffee with a suitor when, looking past him, she suddenly spots a tall figure at the street corner.

Qi Yu walks over with his dog and sits beside them. Eyes lowered, he says to the other person:

"My dog and I both have separation anxiety when it comes to her, so we need to sleep together tonight. You don't mind, do you?"

"From the Gobi Desert in the northwest to the coast of Xiamen, from the verdant Egret Island to romantic Paris, two thousand dawns and dusks, ten thousand kilometers, are all proof that I have been running toward you. But we're like two diagonal lines, forever destined to meet only briefly before each of us runs toward the distance."

"At least my secret crush has finally been answered. After stealing a thousand glances at you, now you stand before me."

Theme: What I dream of is true love and freedom