Name: Radiant Spring
Author: Ji Zhi

Synopsis

[Completed] [Completed] [Completed]

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Original title: "Plucking the Spring Strings [Marriage Before Love]"

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Marriage Before Love | Two wealthy families

A refined scoundrel x a spoiled princess

Chu Yan x Shen Que

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In high society, Chu Yan's name carried real weight.

He was ruthless and calculating, sparing no means to achieve his goals. In just a few short years, he rose rapidly through the ranks and became the head of the Chu family.

Everyone else kept their distance, but Shen Que didn't take him seriously.

When her best friend indirectly asked about their engagement for the N+1st time, she merely replied with indifference:

"Me? I'm the eldest daughter of the prestigious Shen family. If I want a star, I get a star. If I want the moon, I get the moon."

"It's just a business marriage. Do you think I'm afraid he'll eat me alive?"

They would simply keep out of each other's way and maintain the appearance of a respectful, harmonious couple.

Born into a wealthy family, Shen Que had never expected much from marital affection.

Besides, she'd had someone make inquiries early on. Chu Yan already had someone in his heart, an unattainable moonlight muse.

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Only when she was pinned in a corner of the entryway, kissed breathless by the man, did Shen Que belatedly realize that her arranged marriage wasn't quite what she'd expected.

The suit and shirt he always wore buttoned neatly to the top in public were now a complete mess.

A large hand rested lightly against Shen Que's pale neck, leaving her nowhere to run.

"I heard you're not afraid of me?"

The man's voice was low and magnetic, his anger barely held in check.

After Chu Yan caught her at a bar and kept her confined to their bed for three whole days, Shen Que began to reconsider their relationship, somewhat bewildered.

"I am afraid."

This time, Shen Que changed her answer. After all, she hadn't expected Chu Yan, who looked so refined,

to be capable of devouring her whole when they were alone.

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One of the Shen family's subsidiaries went bankrupt, and rumors had it that Chu Yan was behind it.

A number of women still hoping to win Chu Yan over joined forces with the media, pushing the story of "Chu Yan and Shen Que, a couple in name only" to the height of public attention.

But Shen Que, one of the people involved, wasn't troubled in the slightest. She only stared at the silk nightdress strewn across the floor, torn beyond recognition, and complained inwardly.

"When are you going to give me a proper title?"

"...When you've learned how to take off a woman's dress properly."

"But I can't wait."

The man's words seemed to carry a double meaning.

That night, fireworks blazed above Jinglin without pause until morning.

Before the floor-to-ceiling windows beneath them, they spent another passionate, restless night together.

At one point, Shen Que slipped away for a moment and tipped her head back to admire the gift Chu Yan had given her.

She couldn't help teasing him: "President Chu, are you really so impatient to declare your love for me?"

"A Que, do you truly have no idea how long I've loved you?"

Sweat glistened at the man's temples, yet his voice was tender in a way no one else had ever heard: "Every second longer is torture."

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Here's a preview of my next book! "Drowning in a Summer Night"

An icy, beautiful heiress x a domineering, possessive, fatherly man

Zhu Jin x Xie Zhaozhou

Two formidable leads, locked in a tense push and pull | Marriage Before Love | He falls first

Zhu Jin regarded her marriage to Xie Zhaozhou as nothing more than a transaction.

At their first meeting, she laid things out plainly: "Mr. Xie, there's already someone in my heart. Let's consider this marriage a case of each of us getting what we need."

After all, her previous relationship had been so dramatic that the whole capital knew about it. Zhu Jin didn't believe any man could be unmoved by that.

But the man merely rolled his prayer beads between his fingers and nodded unhurriedly, his expression entirely unchanged. "I've heard a little about it."

Only then did Zhu Jin realize that Xie Zhaozhou was a far shrewder businessman than she'd imagined.

After all, she was the dazzling, stunning fourth daughter of the Zhu family, while he was the aloof, distinguished heir to the all-powerful Xie family.

They both knew exactly how much self-interest and impropriety were mixed up in this marriage.

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But later, Zhu Jin's words, "There's already someone in my heart," became a thorn that couldn't be pulled out, digging deeper and deeper into Xie Zhaozhou's heart.

The harder he tried to act indifferent, the more jealous he became, until he was nearly driven mad:

Zhu Jin and he were in sync at certain times, and Xie Zhaozhou knew that it was only at certain times.

On countless nights, he watched her, his rough fingertips grinding over her lips. "What's so good about him? Why are you so devoted to him?"

They saw each other at the office by day and in bed by night.

Even so, when drunk, Zhu Jin would hold him close while murmuring another man's name.

"Zhu Jin. You're cold by nature, and your heart is even colder. No matter how I try to warm you, will I never reach you?"

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Zhu Jin thought the public's assessment of Xie Zhaozhou was complete nonsense.

The man the media called refined, proper, and rigorously self-disciplined would, late at night, leave her eyes glistening with tears.

He would watch her lose control, then bite and worry at the edge of her ear as he said:

"Baby, you said we were each getting what we needed."

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