Echo [Marriage Before Love]

A sheltered, innocent beauty x a brooding, calculating, restrained man who loves her to madness

Arranged marriage to lovers / Two powerful families / Coercive pursuit / A long road to winning her back / Five-year age gap

Jiang Tanyin is the youngest daughter of a wealthy family, frail and sickly, and mild-tempered. Her parents and older siblings have protected her carefully since childhood, giving her the moon when she asks for the stars. She's the little princess everyone envies.

But in the end, the little princess had to marry for the sake of her family's interests, and wed the person she least expected: Qin Xingzhi.

Five years older than her, Qin Xingzhi is famous for his gloomy, reserved nature and decisive manner. By the time she was still in school, he had already become the head of his family's company.

Their personalities couldn't be more different. As a child, Jiang Tanyin was instinctively afraid whenever she saw Qin Xingzhi, and would hide behind her parents whenever they met.

To resist the arranged marriage, Jiang Tanyin cried, made a scene, and even ran away on her wedding day. But her tantrums were as futile as an insect trying to shake a tree, and running away only led her to discover that her childhood sweetheart, Zhou Sui, had cheated on her and was irredeemably rotten.

Heartbroken, Jiang Tanyin returned home in disgrace and, accompanied by her family, apologized to Qin Xingzhi, the victim of her flight.

She was especially nervous on the day she apologized.

Qin Xingzhi's expression was impassive. In his black-and-white suit, he looked as if he had come to a business negotiation. "Miss Jiang made me lose face in front of everyone. A simple apology seems a little inadequate."

His gaze felt like a punishment. Thin and pale in a light-colored dress, she trembled beneath Qin Xingzhi's stare.

After a long silence, he finally relented. "Forget the apology. If you really feel sorry, why don't we just go register our marriage?"

All he wanted was a respectable wife.

-

After the wedding, Jiang Tanyin assumed she and Qin Xingzhi would go on living as before, unable to stand the sight of each other.

But married life wasn't nearly as bad as she had imagined.

Qin Xingzhi kept himself blameless in public, but at home he indulged her in everything. Even as an atheist, he spent the whole night waiting outside a temple because of her frail health, just to obtain the first good-luck charm of the new year.

Gradually, Jiang Tanyin began to feel that marrying Qin Xingzhi might not be so bad after all.

But she never expected Zhou Sui to become a newly crowned Best Actor and reappear before her, tenderly calling her by the same nickname as before. "Yinyin, I didn't cheat on you. Will you hear me out?"

"There's no need."

Meeting her former lover again, Jiang Tanyin felt nothing. She handled everything with perfect propriety.

Until one night, she woke to find the space beside her empty. On an impulse, she went to look for Qin Xingzhi in his study, and heard him through the door:

"I'd advise you to watch what you say, Mr. Zhou. You should know very well that I showed restraint last time."

It was Qin Xingzhi's voice.

Reader advisory:

1. The female lead is not a virgin, while the male lead is.

2. The female lead is imperfect and isn't a strong, independent heroine. She's a little silly, very innocent, and somewhat slow on the uptake. She's adorable, so please don't nitpick her. Thank you.

Theme: Love with a clear head