Wen Qing Has Two Hearts

Chasing-her-back face-slapping, marriage first and love later, a size difference, and a hero whose bold declarations keep getting spectacularly proven wrong.

Heroine's perspective:

Lin Meizhu is a concubine-born daughter of her family, yet she is betrothed to Shen Changfeng, a dissolute heir to a noble title.

On their wedding night, the jade ruyi used to lift her red veil knocks her phoenix coronet askew. Shen Changfeng looks at her with cold, mocking eyes.

Lin Meizhu knows her status is lowly and dares not ask for his affection. She only hopes he will gradually change his opinion of her. All she wants is a quiet, peaceful life.

At the Qionglin Banquet, deep in the bamboo grove, a beauty blocks Shen Changfeng's way, tears streaming down her face as she demands, “How long are you going to stay angry with me? That night, the emperor named the wrong person. Why didn't you say anything? When are you going to divorce her?”

Only then does Lin Meizhu learn that he married her over a mere angry remark. She was like a clown in a play, toyed with at their whim and made a complete fool of.

She had poured her heart into a lost cause. Lin Meizhu finally sees the truth: he probably never liked her at all, and now he is cruelly taking away even her last shred of dignity and self-respect.

Her childhood friend, who has come from afar, watches the two of them struggle together and asks her, “Is that your husband?”

Lin Meizhu turns her gaze away, her expression cool. “Not for much longer.”

Hero's perspective:

Shen Changfeng is the son of the Prince of Dingbei and the current emperor's eldest princess. From the moment he was born, he was the favored child of Heaven.

At a palace banquet, the old emperor, bleary-eyed with drink, chooses a notorious concubine-born daughter to be his wife.

Shen Changfeng resents it, but has no choice but to grit his teeth and accept.

After the wedding, Shen Changfeng discovers that his wife is nothing like the vile woman described in the rumors. On the contrary, she is talented and beautiful, gentle in temperament, and skilled at running a household. He gradually falls in love with her. One day, he even thinks that if they have a daughter, he hopes she will be as gentle and serene as his wife.

One afternoon, he unexpectedly learns that his wife had a sweetheart before she was betrothed, and that the man is the newly appointed third-place winner in the imperial examinations.

He thinks nothing of it: So what? Now her heart and eyes are full of me.

He believes he is the real winner in life.

The winner in life decides to meet his former rival, only to witness the entire scene of their secret rendezvous with his own eyes: a man's hand gripping the armrest, veins standing out, a woman's shoulders hunched low and trembling with restraint, and the two of them hurriedly throwing on their clothes and fleeing when they notice someone approaching.

Shen Changfeng is so furious he could take off into the sky. He grabs a broad saber and charges out, only to run straight into Lin Meizhu.

His wife removes the camellia from beside her hair and pins it onto his coronet herself, smiling softly. “Husband, you look even more handsome than today's third-place winner.”

After taking a deep breath, he turns the blade in another direction and pretends nothing is wrong. “My lady, let me show you a new saber technique I've been learning.”

Should he forgive her?

Though she may have done something unfaithful to him, she has never said a single bad thing about him, right? Right.

Men make mistakes, and women do too. She must have acted on impulse. Isn't that so? Yes.

Then forgive her, all right? All right.

The day after he talks himself into it, his wife asks for a divorce.

Shen Changfeng is utterly devastated.

Inspired by: Though he had done something unfaithful to her, he had never said a single bad thing about her. From The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

PS:

1. This is a one-on-one romance. The hero and heroine are both virgins, and the ending is happy.

2. Neither lead is perfect. The hero's biggest flaw is his stubborn mouth (for a few chapters). The heroine is weak at first, but gradually grows stronger. After she comes into her own, the story is all about making the lovelorn bystanders jealous.

3. The hero observes proper conduct for men (important!!!)

4. Meizhu refers to the pearl said in folk tales to be held in a fox's mouth. It is said that wearing one makes the whole world love you. To me, bright, charming, and bewitching are all compliments.

Upcoming novel: When a Contract Marriage Turns to Love. A long-dormant flame reignites, fake romance turns real, married-life flirtation and extreme push-and-pull, a sweet romance.

Blurb:

Cui Jianing marries Qin Fang for money. Her stepmother is cruel and greedy, and she desperately needs a husband in name only to reclaim the dowry her mother left her.

Qin Fang marries Cui Jianing for reputation. As a general, he was undefeated in battle; as a merchant, he amassed a fortune beyond compare. But a lingering injury from war left him with a hidden ailment, making him the subject of gossip throughout the land. He needs a wife in name only to fend off the wild rumors.

They hit it off and sign a contract: three years, with no talk of feelings, only mutual benefit. When the term ends, they will divorce, and neither party may go back on the agreement for any reason.

After the wedding, the only things that change are that Qin Fang turns down more social engagements and comes home more often, while Cui Jianing increasingly likes to linger outside his study. Otherwise, their days carry on much as before.

One day, after drinking, Cui Jianing gives in to temptation and pins her husband in name only down, consummating their marriage.

In the morning, Cui Jianing watches Qin Fang silently tug the quilt up to cover the red marks on his body and feels bad. “Since it already happened, next time it's your turn. That way, neither of us loses out.”

Qin Fang is a businessman, and businessmen value fairness above all. So he gives it a try, then unfortunately passes out.

Only then does Cui Jianing remember the rumors. She pulls Qin Fang, who has wrapped himself in the quilt again, back out and asks, “What exactly is wrong with you?”

Qin Fang whispers a few words in her ear. Cui Jianing recalls what happened on their wedding night, slaps her thigh, and says, “That's easy! I know how to cure you!”

With the best of intentions, Cui Jianing pins Qin Fang down and tries again. This time, he's fine. Qin Fang refuses to believe it, thinking maybe it was just luck, so he tries again. He's still fine. He thinks perhaps it won't work somewhere else, so he tries again...

For some reason, everyone outside thinks the two of them are a loving couple. They decide they can't keep testing things this way, so they add another clause to the contract: they can only treat his condition on the first and fifteenth day of each month.

Three days later, the two of them lie in the wreckage of the study, having broken their promise, and stare at each other in silence. Cui Jianing feels a little guilty. Qin Fang comforts her: “It's all right. You just like treating me, that's all. A doctor's heart is full of compassion.”

So the two of them tacitly ignore the newly added rule, treating him again and again until, by accident, they make a baby.

Qin Fang says again, “It's all right. Whether to keep the baby before it's born is up to you. After it's born, whether to keep it is also up to you. I'll make sure there's enough money.”

Cui Jianing is moved by that last sentence and grits her teeth, deciding to have the baby.

In the blink of an eye, the three-year term arrives, and the day of their divorce draws nearer. Yet somehow, the contract disappears.

Qin Fang is troubled. “Without proof, it's hard to put anything in order. This is a real headache.”

Cui Jianing agrees wholeheartedly. “Exactly! We'll have to discuss the divorce after we find the contract.”

One day, their two-year-old folds a yellowed piece of paper into a paper boat. The little boat capsizes and sinks to the bottom of the lake.

Qin Fang, who secretly put the contract in his son's hands, lets out a huge sigh of relief. Thank goodness. Now she won't leave me.

Cui Jianing, who personally sank the paper boat with a pebble, also lets out a huge sigh of relief and thinks, Thank goodness! Now I don't have to leave him!

Their child, pretending not to know a thing, spreads his hands helplessly and thinks, This family would fall apart without me.

Upcoming novel: The Possessive Childhood Friend's Rise to the Top. A younger wolfish man, a forceful pursuit, very sweet but a little crazy, and the second male lead's chasing-her-back face-slapping.

The marriage alliance between the Lu and Li families is a mutually beneficial arrangement made after weighing the pros and cons.

After their wedding, Li Huirou and Lu Huaichuan are not exactly inseparable, but they treat each other with courtesy and respect.

Then the Li family falls from power overnight. To protect themselves, the Lu family orders her to cut ties with the Lis.

Li Huirou becomes seriously ill over it, but while she is bedridden, her husband takes a new concubine.

She resolves to divorce him, but the Lu family obstructs her to protect their reputation, while her family urges reconciliation instead of separation.

Misfortune never comes alone. On her way to persuade her parents, Li Huirou is attacked by bandits.

But luckily, luckily, she meets Pei Shaoxuan.

She never expected him to have become a warlord ruling his own territory, much less that the boy who was always bullying her would grow into such a good man.

Not only does he cover her tracks and help her fake her death under the guise of a bandit attack, he thoughtfully prepares new household registration papers and travel documents for her, and finds her a new home.

After moving in, Li Huirou keeps feeling as if someone is watching her in secret.

The gaze feels almost tangible, heavy, damp, and cold, clinging to her back and the nape of her neck, creeping into every crack... Li Huirou also notices that Pei Shaoxuan's gaze toward her is growing stranger and stranger.

One day, she accidentally enters a secret chamber in another residence. She is about to leave when she catches sight of an open album: an explicit erotic painting that makes one's blood race.

Li Huirou is terrified out of her wits, because the woman in the painting looks exactly like her. And the entire secret chamber is filled with paintings like it.

Clinging to her last shred of hope, she finds the artist, trying to awaken his conscience. “Third Brother, I can never repay your great kindness. Let Heaven and Earth be our witnesses as we become sworn siblings, all right?”

The good man Pei Shaoxuan gazes at her darkly, smiling in a way that's hard to read, then gently agrees.

He does indeed call Heaven and Earth to witness, but they drink the nuptial wine and perform the rites of marriage.

Li Huirou reaches out to stop his wicked hand, but cannot budge his body, as hard as a branding iron.

Li Huirou cries until her eyes are red. “I'm your elder sister!”

Pei Shaoxuan presses her onto the wedding bed, kisses away the tears on her face, and strokes her back, damp with sweat. With unmistakable tenderness, he says, “This makes us even closer, Elder Sister.”

Only then does Li Huirou realize that his kindness never came from nowhere. He had been plotting this for a long time.

PS:

1. The story opens with a divorce. The second male lead gets the chasing-her-back face-slapping, and the hero takes his place.

2. The hero has the vibe of a gloomy, obsessive ghost, and pursues her by force.

3. The heroine is not a virgin, while the hero is. The hero is younger than the heroine.

4. The hero and heroine are not related by blood. They are childhood friends.

All blurbs have screenshot backups.

Theme: Cherish the one you have