After Forcing a Marriage with a Cold, Powerful Minister, She Changed Her Heart

Groveling pursuit / gloomy, resentful ghost of a husband going mad for love

Xie Jue knew how much Cui Jiao loved him, yet he loathed her clinging ways and looked down on her sincerity.

He married her because of a cup of spiked wine.

When he occasionally lowered his head to kiss her, it was purely to shut her annoying mouth.

As for dutifully fulfilling his marital obligations every night and showing her a little extra patience when she cried and fussed...

That was just playacting, to keep Cui Jiao obedient and save himself trouble.

Besides, Cui Jiao was easy to fool. A tiny scrap of fake affection was enough to leave her deeply moved.

He never imagined that Cui Jiao, who was supposed to foolishly love him for the rest of her life, would one day ask for a divorce of her own accord.

How could such a tired old ploy of playing hard to get possibly work on him?

Xie Jue didn't care, and waited for Cui Jiao to come apologize.

If she behaved, he could let bygones be bygones.

But he waited and waited, only to hear that Cui Jiao had run off with another man.

*

In the third year of their marriage, Xie Jue's white moonlight returned to the capital.

The court was thrown into turmoil, and the Cui family was suddenly on the brink of disaster. Xie Jue was the mastermind behind it all.

At last, Cui Jiao woke from her dream and realized that from beginning to end, she'd been the only one in love.

After her request for a divorce was ignored, her childhood friend came to her aid.

Without hesitation, Cui Jiao packed her things and ran away.

She thought Xie Jue wouldn't care where she'd gone, but she never expected him to go completely mad overnight, tearing the place apart to find her.

"Jiaojiao."

He cornered her until there was nowhere left to run, his thumb slowly rubbing the unfamiliar kiss marks on her neck.

The veins at his temples bulged. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face looked demonic, yet his voice was calmer and gentler than ever.

"Tell your husband, those bad men seduced you, didn't they?"

A stubborn man who doesn't realize he's in love and pretends not to care x a beautiful woman who doesn't realize her own worth, timid but capable of great things

-The blurb is written from a biased perspective. Both leads are each other's only partners.

-Not a scumbag-man-and-vicious-woman story. So much melodrama, and a very intense romance.

The next novel will be Years Into Our Marriage, With a Child.

A rigid, old-fashioned patriarch who doesn't realize he's in love x a curvy, scheming beauty

After an unexpected encounter, the powerful Marquis of Jing'an, Pei Xu, and Yun Yi, an unfavored concubine-born daughter, marry because of a child.

Pei Xu dislikes Yun Yi, not only because she deliberately engineered their marriage, but also because she's too flirtatious and doesn't seem fit to be a proper mistress of the household.

Yet over the six years of their marriage, Yun Yi bears him a legitimate son, manages the marquis's household, takes care of all the family's affairs, and obeys him in everything without ever clinging to him.

Pei Xu gradually changes his opinion of her. Though he doesn't love her, he's willing to treat her as she deserves.

He stands up for her in public, and in private, no matter how busy his official duties are, he makes time to return home and spend time with his lovely wife and young son.

Then the Pei family finds their youngest son, Pei Xu's younger brother, who disappeared years ago.

At a banquet, Pei Xu's normally gentle and composed wife stares blankly at his younger brother and accidentally knocks over her wine cup.

He'd never seen her lose her composure like that since their wedding.

Pei Xu looks at his brother's eyes, which are remarkably like his own, and says nothing, his expression unreadable.

That night, the man grips Yun Yi tightly by the waist, taking her from the writing desk to the brocade bed, and doesn't let go until dawn.

Theme: Building a marriage takes work