Prologue

When he saw her, he burst into laughter on the spot. The sound of his laughter was boisterous and his smile was bright and dazzling, violently tugging her heartstrings.

She looked at him, stunned. “What are you laughing at?”

“Laughing at you.” He calmly looked her up and down. “You really didn’t disappoint me, your taste in attire is still so ‘unique’.”

What does that mean? She could ascertain that this was definitely not a compliment, but she didn’t understand why he was mocking her. Her outfit was neat and dignified, what was wrong with it?

“Nothing, I am just feeling a little sympathy for your boss Xia Yu Mo.” He saw through her doubts, yet he was unkind and didn’t intend to explain. One-sidedly, he pushed a file towards her. “This is our marriage agreement. Take a look, if there’s no problem, sign it!”

She took it, ordering herself to be calm, carefully reading every clause that concerned her future, but she practically couldn’t process anything at all, her brain was a chaotic mess.

Yes, how could she be calm? She was going to sign a marriage agreement with a man that she hadn’t met more than a few times.

“I won’t be lacking a single item of anything that a wife should have. I’ll give you a house to live in, a car to drive, a gold card that you can swipe as you please. I only need you to be filial to my father more, occasionally act as my wise and kind wife at public events, help me a bit with my public image- like this, it should be easy, yeah?”

It was easy. She had no objections in the least regarding the treatment and requests that he made of her, just that there was a rule with an effective period that she was hesitant about.

“This marriage needs to be maintained for two years?”

“What, you think it’s too long?” He seemed to smile yet not smile. “Seeing that I’m helping your father make up for a large deficit in public funds, saving him from the crisis of losing everything, is it very demanding to put on a show with me for two years?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” It wasn’t that she thought it was too long, she only doubted whether she could keep it up. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to meet your requests and disappoint you when the time comes.”

“You don’t worry about it, I’ve never expected too much from women.” He said it lightly. Hearing this, she secretly grit her teeth. “…So are you signing or not?”

She glanced at him, took the fountain pen, and just as she was about to sign her name on the agreement, he suddenly raised his voice to stop her.

“Wait, there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you- other than being grateful for me for helping your father make up for the deficit, do you have any other reason for agreeing to marry me?”

Why did he ask all of a sudden?

She raised her eyes, meeting his seemingly careless, but actually shrewd and sharp gaze. Immediately, her heart sped up, suddenly recalling a few days ago. When she’d accompanied him to rush to the hospital together to visit his critically ill father, he stood at the entrance to the hospital room, that face filled with great concern and the efforts to restrain his emotions.

“Because you are very filial.” She tried her best to remain calm. “To comfort your seriously ill father, you’re marrying the daughter of his first love in accordance with his wish, so I…am very touched.” Yes, she was touched, not moved.

“You mean that you agreed to marry me in order to complete my filial piety?”

“….You can say that.”

He laughed again. This time, it was even more outrageous than before, more unbridled, faintly carrying a few hints of ridicule. She stared at him in confusion, not understanding why he was laughing his head off like this.

“Sign!” He indicated with a nod.

The two people each signed the contract, peacefully reaching a marriage agreement. At this moment, no one had anticipated that after the contract expired, a not very peaceful war to divorce was about to start—