True Love Without Regret

[My new story, Mustard and Milkshake, is now available. Please see the content warnings for this story below.]

Jing Yu has known since childhood that he is going to marry Shu Chunxi when they grow up.

Childhood sweethearts, close since they were little.

Two years older than Miss Shu, Young Master Jing has been a future henpecked husband since childhood. From meals, clothes, and daily needs to choosing a major and filling out college applications, he thinks of everything for his little princess.

Even when he flies to Morainel to discuss business, he makes time in his busy schedule to personally find the limited-edition brooch his little princess wants.

Shu Chunxi is pampered and sheltered by her fiancé, and has long been spoiled beyond all reason.

But what Jing Yu gets is not a wedding date with Shu Chunxi. Instead, her father is sent to prison.

In an instant, the Shu family is beset by troubles, and its empire is on the brink of collapse.

Shu Chunxi, frail and in a sorry state, comes to see him and asks if he is still willing to marry her.

That day, clouds churn ominously in the sky. Jing Yu doesn't answer.

In mid-March, Second Young Master Jing, far away in Europe, is involved in a serious car accident. His wife is reportedly in the passenger seat.

In the drizzling rain of the Qingming season, Jing Yu waits on the tarmac with an umbrella.

A private plane from Poli City lands on his homeland's soil, bringing Jing Ting's ashes back home.

The stairs lower, and a haggard Shu Chunxi appears, holding an ebony urn. She walks slowly toward him.

In the second week after Shu Chunxi moves into the Jing residence, Jing Yu, who has always slept well, learns what it is to lie awake at night.

Once a social butterfly, Miss Shu can now go ten days or half a month without setting foot outside.

In the middle of the night, Jing Yu goes downstairs for a glass of water and even finds Shu Chunxi burning incense before a Buddha statue.

He walks over with a furrowed brow, the corner of his mouth twitching. In what he considers a fairly mild tone, he asks her,

"...Haven't you adjusted to the time difference from Europe yet?"

Shu Chunxi rises from her straw mat and glances at him. The refined features of her face no longer hold any of the warmth she once showed him.

"Can't you see, Mr. Jing? I'm making offerings for my late husband."

In the third month after Shu Chunxi moves into the Jing residence, Jing Yu finds her napping in the rocking chair she used to love.

The shade of the summer trees falls across her face, and her expression is unusually relaxed, serene and content.

The peaceful atmosphere vanishes as soon as she opens her eyes and sees him.

His heart full of bitterness, he still opens the satin-covered box clenched in his hand and takes out the ring he never got to give her.

As Shu Chunxi watches in surprise, he pretends to be nonchalant as he removes her old ring and puts on the new one.

"Marry me... The title of Mrs. Jing Yu will only be more useful."

He doesn't know why she came back, but whether she wants revenge or to reclaim her good name, he will do as she wishes.

Content Warnings:

1. The female lead is not a virgin; the male lead is sexually inexperienced and emotionally devoted to her alone.

2. Second-chance romance, with the male lead pursuing his wife from the start.

3. The first chapter mainly recounts the female lead's past with her former husband in a bonus chapter. Please read with caution. You can skip straight to the main story without missing anything. After that backstory, the rest is mostly angst-free, with just a little bittersweetness.

4. For the reasons behind what happened back then, see chapters 36, 42, 43, and 62 (the male lead's point of view).

4. A fictional setting with humans, elves, dwarves, and prophetic dreams.

Please add my upcoming story, Mustard and Milkshake~

Blurb:

The year Lu Yisu graduates from college, her family goes bankrupt and is buried in debt.

Before she can go home and cry in her father's arms, the father she has depended on all her life announces that he has arranged a marriage for her.

He plans to use the generous bride price offered by the other party to get through this crisis, and "sell" his daughter to a notorious second-generation rich playboy as his wife.

Lu Yisu is helpless, but in the end, she has no choice but to marry.

But instead of marrying that playboy, she marries Qiao Xingting, the legal counsel who works part-time for her father's company.

According to her father, this is the man who stole her away from her original, disastrous engagement.

Top lawyer Qiao Xingting is a model graduate of one of China's top law schools, outstanding in both academics and character, and swept up scholarships all the way through school.

At 29, he is a senior partner at Hengyuan, one of the country's leading law firms.

The legal world describes him in two phrases of four characters each: "strict with himself, harsh with others."

So even though he has a handsome face people never forget, not a single unmarried woman at the firm dares look upon him favorably.

He attributes his decision to marry Lu Yisu to an unusual moment of compassion.

So he stepped in and took her away from the terrible marriage she'd originally been promised.

Compared with that debauched playboy, who had caused a death and was known to sleep with both men and women, Qiao Xingting could at least call himself a gentleman.

Of course, marrying her also meant he would no longer have to endure his family's monthly nagging about when he was going to get married.

A convenient arrangement for both sides, mutually beneficial, nothing more.

When they first get married, the young lady, used to living in a villa, moves into Qiao Xingting's spacious Beijing apartment. She looks around and is fairly satisfied, then hears the man tell her in a calm voice:

"The bride price I paid your family has nearly drained all the money I've saved since I started working. So I expect our life together to be pretty tight."

Miss Lu, who believed her father and thought Qiao Xingting loved her deeply and would love her until death: "..."

Radiant, resilient heiress x sharp-tongued top lawyer

A cool, aloof facade comes crashing down. Marriage first, love later; two people who love and torment each other.

Both each other's first and only, one-on-one romance, devoted in body and heart.

Theme: Through all the twists and turns of life, stay true to your original self