My Husband and I Can't Stand Each Other

[Marriage First, Love Later]

Three years after their arranged marriage, Song Shiyu and Pei Jun are still living separate lives.

Everyone says they are the capital's most famous ill-matched couple.

After all, Censor Pei is upright and impartial, daring to speak out against injustice throughout the land. He can't stand Song, the Commissioner known for her reputation as a ruthless official.

·

Song Shiyu can't stand Pei Jun either.

This stubborn traditionalist is also so clever and meticulous that he never leaves a loophole. Time and again, he gets people at court to trip her up, costing her credit for her work.

Recently, an important case seems to have some connection to Pei Jun. To solve it, she comes up with a plan and makes him her point of entry. She writes him a nauseatingly mushy love letter, confessing that she's long been in love with him and doesn't want to hide it anymore, and that she'll lay her feelings bare today.

From then on, she showers Pei Jun with affection and pursues him relentlessly. Before she knows it, she's even won him over.

With an important matter at hand, her trusted aide asks her to confirm her feelings: "Commissioner Song, are you truly head over heels for Censor Pei?"

Song Shiyu scoffs and is about to deny it when she catches sight of Pei Jun passing beneath the corridor. She changes her answer on reflex. "I hate him. He's a block of wood."

·

Pei Jun happens to see Song Shiyu discussing official matters with a colleague. He means to avoid interrupting, but then he catches the two of them mentioning him.

As if possessed, he moves closer to listen. From inside, he hears a voice through gritted teeth: "I hate him..."

Hate him.

He doesn't need to hear the rest to know what comes next.

As expected, she's been lying to him.

The big liar wants to deceive him out of both his body and his heart!

But as he turns away, Pei Jun suddenly remembers the imperial bathing trip to Mount Li, where he was ambushed and hit by a cold arrow.

When the physician pulled out the arrow, he instinctively clutched someone's hand.

That person turned sideways to shield him from everyone's searching eyes, her expression utterly calm and unmoved, yet she never stopped holding his hand in return.

That person was... Song Shiyu.

#SheWasPretendingButMaybeHeReallyBelievedIt.

#WhenTheSkyFallsPeiJunCanHoldItUpWithHisMouth.

#UnrulyHeroineXStuffyHero

#MarriageFirst,LoveLater

#DrumsAtDawn,ChasingTigersAtDusk,TheBonesOfNoblesAcrossTwenty-Three Strings.

(December 2024)

Theme: Finding the truth is difficult, but we can strive for it together.