Behold the Green Mountains

[Controlling, scheming man x twisted, obsessive heiress]

[Marriage before love + intensely mutual pining + childhood sweethearts' tragic romance + mistaken identity as a substitute]

Xiao Ningxi loved Zhao Jingcheng for ten years, but her secret love could never see the light. It was impossible to put into words: a forbidden fruit her mother strictly forbade her to touch, and the one person she dared not look back at in her hopeless marriage.

She returned after her divorce, only to find a lovely woman already at his side. She could only crush the last remnants of her longing and put on a brazen, cold mask. Yet his unwavering protection still left her utterly defenseless.

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Zhao Jingcheng loved Xiao Ningxi with all his heart. But he could only silently watch over her as her "older brother," helpless as she got engaged, married, and then divorced.

His feelings began to stir.

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To reclaim her mother's inheritance, Xiao Ningxi made a marriage pact with him. It was a calculation of mutual benefit, but also the only excuse two cowards had to draw close to each other.

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She thought he pitied her, so each time she tested him, it only deepened her misunderstanding.

He thought he was merely someone's substitute, so every time he drew near, he pulled away in even greater pain.

-

Only when the truth tore their masks away did they realize that those burning gazes, deliberate retreats, and wordless acts of protection had all been part of the mutual love they had both been lost in for ten years.

Years flowed on, and the green hills grew old. When they looked back at last, a way home still remained.