Su Nian looked at the million-dollar inheritance tax notice, her fingertips trembling - the old bungalow left by her grandmother was her last thought.
"Sign it, and the house will be yours, and I'll pay for it." Gu Yanchen pushed the love contract in front of her, with calculations hidden in his stern brows, "After a year, we will break up peacefully."
As a technology upstart who was forced to get married by his grandfather, he needs a "girlfriend" to keep everyone quiet; as a desperate illustrator, she needs life-saving money to preserve her memories. It's perfect for everyone to get what they need.
But Su Nian didn't expect that after the contract came into effect——
When she worked overtime to finish the manuscript, he would show up with warm midnight snacks; when she was being challenged by her colleagues, he used his resources to support her; even the grandfather of the Gu family secretly gave her a red envelope: "Girl, this guy Yanchen is sincere to you."
When Lin Weiwei returned to China as her "childhood sweetheart", Su Niancai was shocked to realize that she had already crossed the line. She took out the contract: "Mr. Gu, it's time for the show to end."
However, Gu Yanchen tore the contract into pieces, his dark pupils filled with paranoia that she couldn't understand: "Su Nian, from the first family dinner when I helped you hold off the wine, to the moment when I rushed into the fire to hug you out, I have always played the role of not loving you."
Later, Su Nian added a painting to his collection of illustrations: Under the osmanthus tree in an old bungalow, a man was kneeling on one knee. What he held in his hand was not a contract, but a ring engraved with their names.
"Lifelong contract, do you want to sign?"
Purpose: This novel uses contractual love as the starting point to explore the dialectical relationship between "sincerity and form"-under the seemingly cold shell of a contract, people's instinctive desire for warmth and connection is hidden. Through the process of Su Nian and Gu Yanchen's "deal" from each getting what they need, to letting go of their guard and facing their hearts when getting along, it is shown that the essence of love is never a contractual constraint, but a sincere understanding and a firm choice. At the same time, the renovation of the old bungalow is used as a metaphor for the reconstruction of emotions, emphasizing that the true destination is not in material things, but in the courage of two souls willing to break barriers for each other and build a future together, conveying the core idea that "the best relationship is what comes naturally from the heart."