Gentle, tender, deaf sweetheart × scheming, possessive tycoon starved for love
Marriage after the wedding | Age gap | Substitute marriage and redemption | A touch of dark romance
-
The night was thick with fog, so thick the moon at the edge of the sky was nowhere to be seen.
A crack appeared in the bedroom door, and a man slipped in quietly.
The light stretched his tall, slender shadow even farther, casting it lightly over Jiang Ting's sleepy eyes.
A moment later, steam from the bathroom seeped through the crack, which faced the full-length mirror.
Amid the swirling mist, clean water trickled over his defined muscles, like a landscape painting.
Jiang Ting shyly looked away.
Soon, a damp, heavy warmth pressed against her side. He moved close.
His strong arm curved behind her neck, and his broad palm gently pressed down. His calloused thumb and forefinger clasped her hand and guided it to his throat.
Jiang Ting saw his lips move.
Not sure. Take another look?
Jiang Ting stared intently at his lips, narrow on top and full below. They were beautiful, and she wanted to kiss them.
But she mustn't.
Before she could collect herself, a scorching, humid breeze brushed her ear.
He was speaking.
But she couldn't hear what he said.
He gently kissed her earlobe, then her neck.
In their three years of marriage, he had kissed her everywhere except on the lips.
Jiang Ting knew she was only a substitute. She was meant to endure, not to ask for anything.
-
As he passed the flower shop at the foot of the mountain, Jian Huaizhen remembered the roses on the dining table.
They were always a delicate, translucent pink, always perfectly formed, with a gentle quality that seemed never to fade.
He had once thought they were fake, until he plucked a petal and squeezed a thin layer of juice from it between his fingers.
When he looked up, he met his wife's eyes, distant and radiant as the stars.
Now his wife stood in the light outside the flower shop, her back to him. A wall of roses made her glow, pure and spotless.
The shopkeeper was a handsome young man with delicate features. He wrapped a flower for her in kraft paper and lace.
Jiang Ting signed to him: I'll put it in a vase when I get home, so there's no need to go to all this trouble.
The man signed back: There are still thorns on the stem. This is prettier and safer, and suits you better.
Jiang Ting smiled gently and thanked him.
Jian Huaizhen lowered his lashes, nonchalantly straightened his cuff, and toyed with the deep-blue gemstone button.
Yet an uncontrollable restlessness stirred inside him. From afar, he stole another glance at her rosy lips
In their three years of marriage, he had dared touch her everywhere, even the tips of her toes. Her lips alone were off-limits.
He knew perfectly well that she was not the one who should have married him.
His princess was meant for a prince adored by all, not a lonely, insignificant creature like him.
-
“I like you when you are silent, because it is as though you are far away.
You sound like a lament, a butterfly cooing like a dove.”
Tingting, quoting Neruda's “I Like for You to Be Still”
Later, Jian Huaizhen added another line:
“Your silence is bright as a lamp, simple as a ring,
you are like the night, with its solitude and stars.”
[Reading Guide]
1. A bittersweet romance, an eight-year age gap, both leads' first and only love, happy ending. Please don't read if you are strongly attached to a particular pairing dynamic.
2. Tingting is not mute by nature, but she lost her hearing before learning to speak, so she cannot speak. She agrees to the substitute marriage willingly. Uncle Jian loves only Tingting, from beginning to end.
3. The male lead is no saint. He has had a rough life and has truly lived by the sword, ruthless and cruel. He marries her for both practical reasons and genuine affection.
4. There is a pregnancy and a baby, which help thaw the couple's relationship. Please, please remember to distinguish fiction from reality.
Both lines are quoted from Neruda's “I Like for You to Be Still.”
Blurb written on 2025.2.16 and saved in a screenshot
--------- Upcoming Novel --------
Upcoming novel: Half a Cup of Wind's Song
Blurb:
A cold, beautiful rose who has lost the one she loves × a gentle, well-behaved deaf boy
Older woman-younger man romance | Boyfriend with a fatherly streak | A heartwarming story of redemption
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Jiang Xin works his way through school as a chef for a major celebrity, preparing all her meals.
The celebrity has two faces, on and off camera.
Before the flashbulbs, she's dazzling and quick-witted. Away from them, she's austere and taciturn.
She has a slender waist and a discerning palate, and rarely smiles. When she does, dimples appear in her cheeks. Her favorite thing is to hold a thin cigarette between her lips, like a fragile willow bending in the wind, exhaling clouds of smoke into the breeze.
The celebrity is generous, but Jiang Xin doesn't want to take advantage of her, so he takes it upon himself to expand his duties: cleaning, doing laundry, serving tea, acting as her bodyguard...
There's nothing he can't do. He can even warm her bed.
Before long, rumors spread that she can no longer stand being lonely and has taken a younger man as her kept lover.
A camera is shoved in her face as reporters ask whether she's finally unable to maintain her “devoted lover” image.
She smiles calmly and answers with emphatic certainty, one word at a time: “He's just the younger brother of a relative.”
That night, Jiang Xin warmed her bed with unusual dedication.
After the storm had passed, Yao Ningyue noticed his reddened eyes. His bright, shining gaze held a desperate resolve and unconcealed resentment.
He was like a lamb, pure white and soft no matter how roughly she handled him, always wearing the innocent look of someone ready to be slaughtered.
It was the first time he had shown any emotion. His calloused hand clamped around her wrist like an iron vice, and his voice, damp and hoarse, drifted to her ear. “Would a little brother warm your bed? Would he bathe you? Would he...”
Yao Ningyue closed her eyes wearily and sighed softly.
The game should end now.
She pushed him away and said, without sadness or joy, “Didn't I tell you long ago that even without you, I'd have other toys?”
“...Toys?”
He clenched his jaw and stared at her in disbelief as a torrential rain gathered in his eyes.
For a moment, Jiang Xin wished he couldn't hear a thing.
-
“A lone boat must cross the sea.
It will face storms and be smashed to pieces,
lose its way, with no return in sight.
Yet a boat is no boat without the sea,
and I am not myself without you.
So it is not the lone boat that crosses the sea, but the sea that carries the lone boat.”
Jiang Xin
Theme: Live well, and bravely keep going
Cherishing Nan Zhi
My Incubus Husband Dotes on Me
Half a Cup of Wind's Song (Next Book)
Sealed Dawn (Or Maybe It's This One)
Jiayi
A Young Wife Is Priceless
Survive? The Pathetic Human Goes on a Rampage in Another World
Listening to a Sleeping Word [Essays]
Capturing the Sun
The Player Falls into a Radish Patch
Starting Out Middle-Aged, I Survive the Apocalypse and Fight My Way Through the AI
When the Poplar Blossoms Fall
After reading it, I felt a little mixed. I really like this story, I really like Uncle Jian and Tingting, I really like their stories and the stories of all of them. But it was also a little uncomfortable. I really didn't like Chu Shaohui at first, but at the end, I felt so hurt. Such a deep and unforgettable relationship, two people who are so proud and similar. I really don't want them to be 😭 Although time can solve everything, such people and their feelings will never be forgotten for the rest of their lives, and they may even never be able to truly walk out 😭 I never thought that one day I would cry for Chu Shaohui. Today is a sad and melancholy day for Chu Fei's love [hugging thighs]
I would like to support myself and hope that I can see this passage from a month ago. I wrote a paragraph in a hurry at that time, and there may be some inaccuracies. Today I still want to say that this is my favorite story, my favorite love, and Uncle Jian is also my favorite male protagonist. I'm back. I started reading this story seriously today. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to stay with you until the end due to too many things. Wenya 2 points 1 month ago Ultimate Cute Master 90% Advanced Gardener ✎ Happy birthday, may you be happy every day! I've been a little busy recently, and I haven't had time to read it since Chapter 84. I occasionally glanced at the comment area today, and I wanted to briefly share my most authentic feelings about reading this novel: First of all, I really, really like this story and this novel. The main characters and all the characters are portrayed very vividly, vividly, accurately and with camera sense. In my opinion, Uncle Jian is the ceiling for male protagonists in novels. He is not perfect and even has many flaws, but he is real, three-dimensional and very charming. The more you read, the more you taste. Even the shortcomings have grown into part of the charm. He is a living person with scars, stories and warmth. He has a complete arc, soul, depth and appeal. He is my favorite male protagonist in novels. I also like the handling of all the emotions in the story. Except for the not very romantic but very beautiful and touching love between Uncle Jian and Tingting, there is also brotherly love (not related by blood + related by blood), sisterly love, and the father-son love that doesn't look beautiful at all but is still very touching... Why do I use the word "aesthetic" to describe the love between Tingting and Uncle Jian? First of all, I think the word aesthetic is the highest evaluation to describe love, not because it is perfect, but because I think aesthetic is a concept that includes hardship, pain, sourness, incompleteness... And ultimately leads to "beauty". The love between Ting Ting and Uncle Jian is the highest level of beauty in my mind. The relationship between them has gone through twists and turns, has been tempered, has pain, weight, and warmth, and finally reached the resonance of the soul. They have truly blossomed in the darkness. (Ps. There are many authors who can write romantic love and sweet love, but there are really very few authors who can write such beautiful love) This is also the reason why I didn't catch up with big updates when I was busy, because in my opinion, this novel is not just a recreational read, but a work that requires me to spend time and energy to take it seriously. Therefore, I don't want to just use the fragmented time every day to follow this story, but I must calm down and read and feel it seriously when I have a lot of time. And the plot is not sluggish at all, because the charm of group portraits is to make each character three-dimensional and vivid, and the relationships between the characters need to be densely woven, which requires enough space to lay out, and it has been reduced to very few. (Ps. Of course, I am a layman. The love story between the male and female protagonists is definitely the first thing that attracts me. I don't want to show off my intentions. I just want to briefly share my true feelings after reading it. I really like this story and I like its seriousness, rigor and writing style) (pps. I have a small selfish request at the end. If you still have the energy after finishing this story, I really hope that you can write more extras about Uncle Jian and Tingting. I really can't bear to see their story end, because I always feel that this is a feeling that cannot be replaced by reading it for the second or third time.)
Happy birthday, may you be happy every day! I've been a little busy recently, and I haven't had time to read it since Chapter 84. I occasionally glanced at the comment area today, and I wanted to briefly share my most authentic feelings about reading this novel: First of all, I really, really like this story and this novel. The portrayal of the main characters and all the characters is very vivid, clear, accurate and lens-friendly. In my opinion, Uncle Jian is the ceiling of the male protagonist in the novel. He is not perfect and even has many flaws, but he is real, three-dimensional and extremely charming. It makes people get better and better, and even the shortcomings have grown into part of the charm. He is a living person with scars, stories, and warmth, with a complete arc, soul, depth, and appeal. He is my favorite male protagonist in novels. I also like the handling of all the emotions in the story. In addition to the not very romantic but very beautiful and touching love between Uncle Jian and Tingting, there is also brotherly love (not related by blood + related by blood), sisterly love, and the father-son love that does not look beautiful at all but is still very touching... Why do I use the word "aesthetic" to describe the love between Tingting and Uncle Jian? First of all, I think the word aesthetic is the highest evaluation to describe love, not because it is perfect, but because I think aesthetic is a concept that includes hardship, pain, sourness, incompleteness... And ultimately leads to "beauty". The love between Ting Ting and Uncle Jian is the highest level of beauty in my mind. The relationship between them has gone through twists and turns, has been tempered, has pain, weight, and warmth, and finally reached the resonance of the soul. They have truly blossomed in the darkness. (Ps. There are many authors who can write romantic love and sweet love, but there are really very few authors who can write such beautiful love) This is also the reason why I didn't catch up with big updates when I was busy, because in my opinion, this novel is not just a recreational read, but a work that requires me to spend time and energy to take it seriously. Therefore, I don't want to just use the fragmented time every day to follow this story, but I must calm down and read and feel it seriously when I have a lot of time. And the plot is not sluggish at all, because the charm of group portraits is to make each character three-dimensional and vivid, and the relationships between the characters need to be densely woven, which requires enough space to lay out, and it has been reduced to very few. (Ps. Of course, I am a layman. The love story between the male and female protagonists is definitely the first thing that attracts me. I don't want to show off my intentions. I just want to briefly share my true feelings after reading it. I really like this story and I like its seriousness, rigor and writing style) (pps. I have a small selfish request at the end. If you still have the energy after finishing this story, I really hope that you can write more extras about Uncle Jian and Tingting. I really can't bear to see their story end, because I always feel that this is a feeling that cannot be replaced by reading it for the second or third time.)
Who is "he"? Will these foggy truths be slowly revealed later? Sometimes I find it a bit difficult to understand 🐶
So far, I agree with this sentence in Uncle Jian's heart. So far, this sentence can be sympathized with [covering face and laughing] So far, it seems to be true 😂
Fortunately you didn't give up, otherwise I wouldn't have seen the ending of this story. I started reading it again from the first chapter. After all, the interval between previous updates was so long that I almost forgot about the previous ones, but I really like your writing and this story. Sometimes it takes fate to meet a story you like and to meet a reader you like. 💪 💪
I'm very happy to be able to bring you a little bit of strength, but please don't doubt it, you are talented and your story is the best. Your words and stories have already surpassed too many works in my heart. Some of those popular articles are really good, but a lot of them are just the result of the right time, place and people. When it comes to aesthetics, the most precious things often belong to a few people. The words you write have this kind of texture. It is not the kind of noisy hit, but it will be regarded as a treasure by those who can recognize it, and I feel very lucky to be one of them. Don't be stressed about extras. Take a good rest and talk about it when you have time. You are never alone. 😚❤️
This story is really, really powerful, and so good!! I love it so much! ❤️
2026.05.25 Thumbs up, very nice 🤩
I finally waited until the text was finished and read it in one go. It was very well written👍