A Reef at the Hem

[The neighboring novel, The Hermes Trap, is updating now: a guide to hunting villainesses. Synopsis below.]

In the third year of her marriage of convenience to Song Qi, Cen Yiqing, hailed by countless fans as the perfect screen queen, became the target of online ridicule after a disastrous interview.

Only then did the people who had once praised her low-key manner as "an actor's integrity" finally realize:

"So she kept a low profile to hide that sharp tongue."

To salvage her fast-dwindling popularity, Cen Yiqing gritted her teeth and appeared with Song Qi on a shameless variety show.

With everything riding on this, she stayed up all night studying how married couples should get along. They started rehearsing by sharing a bed, determined to improve her relationship with Song Qi.

Acting was a piece of cake.

Then she slapped him in her dream.

The next day, a bed two meters and eighty centimeters wide had replaced the one in their bedroom.

Cen Yiqing: ?

Song Qi tugged at the split corner of his mouth. "You thrash around in your sleep."

*

The variety show filmed as scheduled, and Cen Yiqing and Song Qi just barely kept up appearances with their last-minute rehearsals.

But in corners where no one was paying attention, things began to veer off course.

After a group meal left them poisoned by wild mushrooms, Song Qi, stubbornly convinced he was a belt, wrapped himself around Cen Yiqing so tightly she could barely move.

She ground out, "Don't make me slap you."

Song Qi rejoiced inwardly and held her even tighter.

*

Cen Yiqing had heard of Song Qi long before they married.

The new head of the Song Group, the cool and distinguished Mr. Song, had been born at the top of the pyramid and admired by all. His credentials were so immaculate that not a single flaw could be found.

She entered this absurd, hollow marriage for the glamorous title of Mrs. Song.

She had imagined countless reasons they might divorce someday, and had even prepared a divorce agreement that favored her in advance.

Cen Yiqing gave a slight nod.

"Let's get divorced. It'll be better for both of us."

He lowered his eyes, his tone calm.

"I told you before."

"If you insist on divorcing me, I'll lock you up."

*

In a world where self-interest comes first, everything is a resource to be traded.

Song Qi saw his marriage as a boat sailing smoothly toward a far shore bathed in warm sunlight.

He never imagined that one day it would run aground, and he would willingly become her devoted servant.

[Reading Guide]

The characters are not based on anyone. Please don't read real people into them.

The leads are imperfect. SC / 1v1 / HE

After Finding My Ex-Husband's Diary

The god of lies and trickery lays a trap,

and the prey willingly steps into the game.

-

In her third year studying abroad, Zhou Feiqian's family went bankrupt and cut off her financial support.

To cover her exorbitant expenses, she tried nearly every legal way of earning money.

When Cheng Junyan found her, she was working as a waitress in a cafe.

The streets at dusk were noisy and crowded, and Cheng Junyan's smile was more dazzling than the sunset.

"Let's make a deal." He handed her a black card. "Help me deal with your old rival."

A numb nerve stirred. She tentatively said the familiar name:

"Fu Jiaheng?"

"That's right. Fu Jiaheng."

-

Fu Jiaheng and Zhou Feiqian reunited in the second year after graduation.

Just as he remembered, she was still assertive, dazzling, and used to getting her way.

The only difference was that they were allies now, not rivals.

Zhou Feiqian had both ambition and the means to match it. In just a year, she helped him establish himself in his family's business, riven with competing factions.

In return for the wealth and power he gained, Fu Jiaheng gave himself to her.

He relied on her and never tried to hide it.

Even when she was distant and aloof, always distracted when they were together, he remained intoxicated by the dream she had woven.

Fu Jiaheng thought that was simply who she was.

Until one day, he saw her walking with Cheng Junyan.

She held Cheng Junyan's arm intimately, smiling as she spoke to him in a gentle voice, like a soft breeze.

-

Zhou Feiqian said they were just friends.

Fu Jiaheng believed her. He couldn't afford the cost of not believing.

But when he rang her doorbell and Cheng Junyan opened the door, even the usually composed man couldn't stop himself from throwing a punch.

"Stay away from Feiqian," he snarled.

Cheng Junyan nonchalantly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, then glanced back at the door, left slightly ajar.

Zhou Feiqian fastened her final button. Her voice held a tenderness Fu Jiaheng had never heard before.

"Jiaheng, you don't mind, do you?"

-

They were both wrong.

Zhou Feiqian was neither a blade nor a gentle breeze.

She was Hermes, the one who laid the trap.

She kissed their wounds and devoured everything they had.

Standing on their bleeding wounds, she wished them many more years just like this, in the gentlest voice.

Theme: Rise toward a better life.