Chapter 1
When our family business ran into trouble, my family offered me up for an arranged marriage.
I was furious. “What about my brother?! Why doesn’t he have to get married? Is this how you treat me just because I’m a daughter?!”
Dad patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry.”
“We’re arranging a marriage for your brother, too.”
“You’ll each inherit half the family assets.”
“Oh. No problem, then.”
My new husband was the heir to the Huo family.
Getting married was simply a duty to be ticked off.
On our first day as newlyweds, Huo Zheng spoke to me coldly.
“This is just an arranged marriage. All we need to do is keep up appearances. You don’t need to know about my affairs, and I’m not interested in yours.”
“As long as things look all right on the surface, we’re free to have our own fun in private.”
I froze for a moment.
Inside, I was thinking, Wonderful. I couldn’t ask for more.
On the outside, though, I made myself look close to tears.
“All right. I’ll do as you say.”
“I’ll play my part.”
Huo Zheng’s gaze fell on my reddening eyes. He paused, then abruptly tugged at his tie in irritation.
He turned his face away.
“I’ll sleep in the study. You can have the master bedroom.”
“I’ll have Uncle Wu give you a black card. Go to him if you need anything.”
“All right,” I agreed meekly.
In fact, the very next day, I texted Fu Ciyan.
“Any interest in joining my family?”
His reply came quickly. “?”
Fu Ciyan was my ex-boyfriend.
He came from a poor family.
His looks were first-rate.
He was a B-list celebrity.
His career was the reason.
Nobody around us knew we were together.
I didn’t feel particularly hard done by.
All that sneaking around.
So exciting.
Besides, it made Fu Ciyan feel a little guilty toward me.
“I’m sorry I can’t acknowledge you as my girlfriend.”
That was a bit unfair, yes, but it was fine.
One kiss on that face and I could forgive anything.
A month earlier, once the arranged marriage was settled, I’d broken up with Fu Ciyan.
Fu Ciyan had always been so proud and determined.
Now, for the first time, he stood before me with red-rimmed eyes.
“Could you please not leave me?”
My answer then had been utterly heartless.
“No.”
“Fu Ciyan, I can’t think of a single reason to choose you over Huo Zheng. You can’t even make our relationship official.”
But things were different now.
That official status he couldn’t give me?
It was precisely the thing I absolutely couldn’t afford to have.
When you put it that way.
We were practically a match made in heaven.
I met up with Fu Ciyan.
Once I had explained what I wanted, he gave a cold laugh.
“Wen Yining, what makes you think I’d sink so low as to become your dirty little secret?”
Feeling a little sad, I tilted my head up at a forty-five-degree angle and gazed at the sky.
“Wasn’t I your secret girlfriend for a whole year?”
Fu Ciyan gritted his teeth.
“How is that the same?!”
“Close enough.”
I tried to brainwash him.
“Your girlfriend has to be kept a secret.”
“My boyfriend has to be kept a secret, too.”
“We’re the two most compatible people in the world.”
Fu Ciyan was so angry he laughed.
“Wen Yining, do you even hear yourself?”
I sighed and slumped in the roomy chair.
“Fine. If you don’t want to, forget it.”
Fu Ciyan watched me coldly.
“I’ll find someone else, then,” I said regretfully.
To my surprise, this made him angrier than before.
He sprang up and grabbed my wrist.
“Someone else? You’re going to find someone else?!”
I was a little confused. “If you don’t want to, obviously I have to find someone else.”
Fu Ciyan let go.
“Fine.”
“Wen Yining, you’ve really outdone yourself.”
With that, he stormed off.