Tenderness on Our Wedding Night

My new novel, "The Rest of Married Life," is now available. A marriage first, love later.

The year Wen Shuyi graduated, she started her first job and married a stranger she had never met: Shao Cen, the eldest son of the Shao family and the head of the group her boss was working so hard to curry favor with.

One day after the wedding, Wen Shuyi noticed that Shao Cen had hurt his arm and carefully bandaged it for him.

The man lowered his eyes and let the young woman fuss over him. His profile was cool and distant. "Everyone else is afraid of me. Aren't you?"

"Do you want me to be afraid of you?"

Seeing the man's cold expression, as if he couldn't feel pain, Wen Shuyi realized he wanted to leave. She glanced at his wound and furrowed her brow slightly, gently persuading him, "It's not healed yet. Don't move, it'll hurt."

Before leaving, Shao Cen glanced at her. "You wrapped it up like a mummy."

"Let's get my wife a reward. What do you want?"

Wen Shuyi paused. Why was this man talking to her like she was a child?

-

Rumor had it that Shao Cen was ruthless and unfeeling, and had long neglected his new wife from the south. They were friendly on the surface but at odds beneath it, and he was never home.

Even before the wedding, her friends had worried about Wen Shuyi. Without the protection of the old madam, and with such a huge gap between their status and personalities, this marriage could hardly be a good match.

But only Wen Shuyi knew in private that when she first arrived and missed home, Shao Cen held her as she fell asleep and postponed work to spend a week with her in Huaicheng.

When she couldn't get used to the food, the man would get up in the middle of the night, sleeves rolled halfway up, and make her a late-night snack.

A man as proud and aloof as him had never before been willing to take the time to do so many things for anyone.

Later, by the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the night, Wen Shuyi was held in the arms of her jealous husband. He murmured her childhood nickname by her ear and coaxed her to go again. She could only conclude that all the rumors about his cold, abstinent nature were false.

He had far too many tricks and dirty lines up his sleeve.

-

One night soon after she arrived, Shao Cen came home late, having forgotten his own birthday. The young woman had waited up for him, and placed a birthday candle on a cake she'd made herself.

Later, on her birthday, she took his hand and ran off with him into the night. The streets and alleys were bustling, with lights shimmering everywhere.

The young woman looked back at him and smiled, more gentle than the night itself.

She asked, "Will you light a sparkler for me?"

He suddenly wanted to kiss her.

-

Powerful, fatherly executive x gentle and resilient woman

Marriage first, love later / Love grows over time / Seven-year age gap

--- Collect "The Rest of Married Life" from my author page ---

Shi Shu has always followed the rules, but at twenty-six, she finds herself facing three difficult problems.

First, her boss keeps targeting her on purpose.

Second, her family keeps pressuring her to get married.

Third, she accidentally kissed a high school classmate while drunk.

At the time, Sheng Dongchi was the founder of a group, a rising star in tech featured in financial news, and a handsome, distinguished young man born with every advantage.

He and an ordinary person like her were worlds apart.

At a villa party, someone tried to hit on Shi Shu. She sensed a gaze and looked up.

Dusk light spilled across the terrace above her. The man's profile was striking and roguish. He glanced at her, then tapped lightly with his fingertip, as if unconcerned.

After he walked away, her phone vibrated.

Shi Shu read the message: "I'm the one who got kissed. What are you hiding for?"

-

On a rainy night when they were stranded, Shi Shu wore the man's suit jacket. Though she was in a sorry state, she seriously discussed the terms of a flash marriage.

"We'll keep the marriage secret and play along in front of our elders."

"We can't interfere in each other's private lives or work."

"If either of us wants a divorce, the other has to agree unconditionally."

The man's breathing seemed to deepen for a moment. He lifted his eyelids slightly, his dark eyes showing the familiar hint of frivolity and something difficult to read.

"Fine."

-

After they married, Shi Shu knew he was only trying to appease his family, so she had no expectations.

But she never imagined that the man who had always been carefree and willful would rein in all his spoiled-heir habits after their wedding and indulge her little whims in private.

One night, when she was unwell from working overtime, he put off work and rushed home in the middle of the night, all because of a phone call from her while she was sick.

Later, after leaving her school job, Shi Shu made a name for herself with her column. At a dinner, someone got drunk and caused trouble, and rumors spread that she was interfering in someone's marriage. The man sat at the head of the table and looked at her in front of everyone, his tone lazy.

"Honey, everyone's saying I'm a playboy who goes after female employees."

The room fell silent. No one had expected that the secret wife in the rumors was just an ordinary journalist.

"How about we go public and give me a proper title?"

-

A game under the DM Group banner, which had become a global sensation, was revealed to have been inspired by the founder's first love. Rumors of a marital split swept the internet, and everyone said this marriage between unequals was finally over.

That night, Shi Shu was trapped by the floor-to-ceiling window, listening to him murmur shameless words, laughter thick in his voice.

"I've wanted to kiss you like this for a long time."

"Ever since you wore my shirt and smiled at someone else just now."

"I'm jealous."

"Open your mouth and soothe me, okay?"

In the early hours of the morning, after soothing the exhausted, sleepy woman in his arms to sleep, Sheng Dongchi bent down and gently kissed her hairline.

That day, he posted two marriage certificates.

[The girl I've loved for ten years is also the wife I'll be in love with for the rest of my life.]

-

Reunion after years apart / Marriage first, love later / Getting what they wished for

Tech tycoon x new media journalist / Handsome, roguish, distinguished x cool, well-behaved girl

[Many years later, Shi Shu would never forget that day.

When she was tired of the same routine day after day, wavering over whether to resign from her school, Sheng Dongchi slipped a card under her pillow.

He left her only one sentence:

"You can do anything you want and become anyone you want to be. Twenty-seven-year-old Shi Shu will always have a safety net."]

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Theme: Tomorrow will be better