A Toxic Marriage Pact

Marriage first, love later | Coercive possession | The husband chases his wife to win her back

[A ruthless, cunning bastard × an illegitimate daughter who plays dumb while hiding her claws]

News of an alliance between Yancheng’s top families, the Zhous and the Lis, made the business headlines for an entire page. But no one expected the Li family’s next head to choose a bastard daughter of the Zhou family.

“A marriage partner is a marriage partner. It doesn’t matter who.” Li Hengchuan didn’t even glance at the file on his prospective bride as he casually tore it apart, his manner both reckless and indifferent.

He wanted her precisely because she was an illegitimate daughter: someone under his thumb who couldn’t make waves.

But Zhou Qinzhuo had truly loved Li Hengchuan for a very, very long time.

-

It wasn’t until their third year of marriage that Zhou Qinzhuo got her hands on shares in the Zhou family. She quietly left behind divorce papers and walked away with nothing to lose.

She thought three years together would at least let them part on good terms. She never expected Li Hengchuan to be a madman. It was as if she were meeting him for the first time.

He cut off every path she could take, forcing her to bow her head and beg him.

In the familiar villa, Li Hengchuan pulled her close and gripped her chin.

“Used me and now you want to run?”

“Zhou Qinzhuo, who gave you the nerve?”

-- One-on-one, SC, HE

-- Everything is in service of the plot, so please don’t overanalyze it

Also known as The Rotten Deal

Here’s a preview of my upcoming novel next door. Please add it to your collection if you’re interested:

The Guardianship Arrangement

[Cold and unfeeling × living under someone else’s roof]

The powerful Yu family of the capital took in a troublesome child, but Yu Yingge, its current head, couldn’t care less.

That is, until the old master brought the girl to him. “Just call him Uncle.”

“Uncle.” Her voice was quiet, but respectful.

Looking at the young girl standing before him with her eyes lowered, Yu Yingge didn’t respond. His manner was cold. “I don’t have a niece like you.”

Rumor had it that the head of the Yu family was ruthless and untouchable, a fearsome figure famous among the powerful.

Shen Diqing was genuinely afraid of him. During the five years she lived with the Yu family, she went out of her way to avoid him.

Then the old master fell ill, and she had no choice but to move into Yu Yingge’s home. From then on, the man she feared most became her guardian.

-

Three years later, everyone in high society knew that the head of the Yu family had raised a little tyrant, an untouchable “precious darling” in their circle.

Plenty of young men tried to approach her and win her favor, only to be shut down without mercy.

Only Shen Diqing knew the truth: there was someone she liked very much.

But the warning came even faster than the confession. Yu Yingge understood people too well. Shen Diqing’s feelings were plain as day to him.

“You’ve gotten bold.”

“Shen Diqing, look at me.” Yu Yingge’s voice was level, but terrifying all the same.

“Who taught you all this?”

He left her no room to negotiate and threw her out of the Yu family.

-

Later, Shen Diqing chose the other path. She left the capital for good, going her separate way from Yu Yingge, with no further contact between them.

Just as she was finally starting a new relationship, Yu Yingge showed up and cornered her in her rented apartment.

She had never seen him like this: vicious, terrifying, closing in on her step by step.

“Since when do you get to come and go from my side whenever you please?”

Yu Yingge extinguished his cigarette with an expressionless face. “Break up with him.”

“If you don’t, you won’t like what happens next.”

-- One-on-one, HE, SC

-- The setting serves the plot. Please don’t overanalyze it. [Bows]

-- Female lead: Shen Diqing; male lead: Yu Yingge

Theme: Love life