Author: Xie Yi / 百户千灯
Year of release: 2019
#of chapters: 111
Status: Completed
Link to NU: n/a
Tags: agreed marriage, emotionally dumb MC, domineering boss ML, falling in love after marriage
*title is MTL'd, not official translation
Summary:
Lin Yuhe enters an agreed marriage as a screen for a big boss Lu Nan from his family, his idea is simple, he felt obligated to his step-mother who provided him funds for an operation and consequent therapy medication and agreed to be married to a big boss and play his role, then return to his casual life of a medical student, but when it came to inquiring about divorce the big boss's answer was "Don't mention divorce from now on".
Storyline:
Tbh this is a very frustrating novel to me, I have no idea for what reason more than 5k people on jjwxc rated this 5 star, which bought me at the beginning, but when I struggled to read 70 chapter my patience simply disappeared, because it couldn't handle such violation.
The storyline covers several months, the basic events include: meeting, engagement, marriage, dealing with misunderstanding and finally accepting the love and proceeding to it. If there is a family drama you think would appear, I will disappoint you, drama will only tickle your feet and will run away, since as author claims time and time again that this is a sweet text, but they don't realize it's actually hardcore boring sweet text.
I don't like the content and most of all I don't like MC. I for sure think that all people deserve to be loved, but it doesn't mean that reading about emotionally dumb people is an interesting sport.
The settings of MC are close to what should be called - alexithymia - inability to identify emotions. The author actually fails to deliver it with a 100%. Partially they mention autism, but the trait of inability to interpret emotions is only part of autism, not definition of it. Why I say author fails to deliver? Simply because the settings of MC contradict each other and the settings. From one point MC is described as being unable to interpret what ML feels towards him and can't grasp the emotional signals from the other party. BUT. There are several scenes of MC being confessed to, where he definitely understands the intention of other party as love for him, he just doesn't answer to the feelings and acts indifferently. What is the second point is that he perfectly can interpret other people malice towards himself. Like he surely understands that he is being sold by his step-mother's family for benefits, there is also a moment when ML's grandfather comes into contact and although acts and speaks kindly, but it's obviously hiding knives in his words (it was ridiculous to read how a special assistant following MC said how keen to malice MC was). That's why the entire setting of MC as emotionally blunt to love is simply non-existent and dumbly written to me. A bit more about later.
The story starts with the communication between MC, Lin Yuhe and his step-mother, who constantly contacts him on ML's whereabouts and deeds, time and time again brainwashes him on rules etc. ML, *Lu Nan (*names MTL'd) comes from a wealthy family, his natal Lu family is in conflict with his parents and consequently with him too. His parents were in uneven marriage, his father married a racer and later they created a big business, which ML gets at the beginning of the story and becomes a big chairman. His natal family is described as basic feudal family with many wives and many sons and grandchildren, most of which act as if they're nobility, basically described by author in two words as one-dimensional stupid villains.
Lu Nan and Lin Yuhe enter a contract marriage where, supposedly, Lu Nan uses LYH as a shield from his family. Which already sounds hella stupid as a setting, but for some reason nobody questions it, especially MC. He is basically described as this sensible person who is ready to marry anyone and there's a hint that it is his gratitude towards his step-mother who gave money for an important operation, MC has severe asthma since childhood and step-mother paid for operation and therapy, which is a big sum. This part is also baffling to me, since later MC offers a payment of several millions for all these years of upbringing, including operation fees etc. And he paid it before being married, it was his own money and he used his own earning and everything he had on hands, so I ask myself - why he agreed to marriage and didn't care how the pratner looks like while he had all the money and could refuse from the get-go? At this point the story setting started to irritate me quite a bit.
His step-mother is quite an annoying bitch too and totally one-dimensional, it is obvious she sells the step-son and she also feels hate because she down-married and this step-son resembled the first wife a lot. Which is totally childish. And basically their family live in a perfect world of three with Lin's father, stepmother Wu Xin and WX's daughter from her own first marriage. Her constant calls and constant text about rules etc. was another part of immense boredom.
LYH and LN meet at first and since the get-go it's obvious that ML is very attentive, more obvious to the reader that first of all ML already has feelings for MC and secondly they for surely knew each other before. The only difference is that MC doesn't remember much. due to his asthma he lived with his grandpa after his mother's death in a mountaneous area, he also had a severe fever at that time that almost burned him. Later only in high school he had operation and was better. Relatively, since the very beginning MC has complications in daily life, not to mention to his frail complexion and also that he is always cold. Thus he was always bookish since childhood and had very good grades, thus he is now a med student also first in exams. Here I have another logic breakage, since being a med student etc. requires logical and analytical thinking, meaning he needs to analyze the information in front of him and interpret it, but for some reason it surely works in his life as a med student, but when it comes to realizing that LN eats a spicy hotpot of his hometown just for him he is incapable of.
The following events are pretty boring, he either goes to uni or listens to his step-mother or they meet with ML, who tells him not to mind what his step-mothers tells him about rules. MC is also a good thing because he simply can't lie and doesn't lie always fully sharing what happaned and what was done. Basically sometimes being like a machine.
Tbh the whole setting of contract marriage is also very icky to me. Basically instead of normal romance and such ML bound MC by this contract and later coerced MC into being more intimate so they can fool everyone etc. While only a dumb idiot won't guess that there's no need for MC to be a shield, it's all ML's plan to get MC, which already sounds like tricking someone into a relationship..it honestly lives a bad taste in my mouth. The only thing that makes it a little better is that ML is really loving and caring, he cares for MC's always chapped lips, for him being warm etc. But it sometimes has a bad taste and even author comments on it with relish how MC helps count money after being sold...I really didn't get author's happiness for that.
Later they have engagement, which is a big event. It wasn't uneventful, MC was almost implicated, which again I couldn't understand why he was stupid to think why the person who led him was from ML's people, while previously MC was protected like a vase. He totally always acts like a damn flower, dumb flower. This is a guy who gets 1st place in exams ladies and gents. And it's not like he is incapable of feelings, he obviously went to high places to calm himself down after few meetings with his step-mother and did that to seek comfort, he also has a piece of agarwood for the same purpose of calming himself, so this ability/inability are contraditcing to no end.
Later btw when they have dinner when Lin father finally realized the indifference of his own son who once loved him, but now didn't bother with what was happening around him again he's this indifferent machine. With conflict between step-mom and step-son, Wu famly actually got troubles from ML for breaching the agreement. Only then father Lin also found out that his wife was trying to sell his son to other people before and when they got Lu Nan she installed malicious programs into son's phone to follow and even listen to conversations. After this incident the entire family, including the moment when MC came back to pay, was left behind in the story, only occasionally appearing, since step-mother was pregnant and the daughter was hysterical since they promised she'll be the only child, so she even almost made her mother drink meds to miscarry.
Next a series of boring events that should have been for cultivating feelings. Anyway MC is responsive to ML so ML thinks LYH had positive feelings towards him. But I can't understand why MC can't catch the sentimental side of ML who brought him to the city where they married in the same hall where ML's parents married and they also had rings of his parents. But he thought ML is really dedicated for this stuff. Even their first sex was treated as - well, you have a different walk and have signs of love making etc. And MC feeling he did too little for their contract actually agreed to sex and such, but also found comfort in it. Here's another thing, MC with his condition is always cold, so he even sleeps with a warmer, later when ML proposed to live together ML takes him to master bedroom to sleep together and it's the first time where MC gets warm and sleeps well due to ML having high body temperature. It was another brain-dead moment when MC couldn't rule out that he surely sleeps in ML's embrace thus he feels warm, otherwise when ML is not around he's always cold...and he couldn't guess it for a very long time, before he woke up in ML's embrace. He also has these half-conscious moments when he sleeps and acts like a baby.
Again the Lu family never appeared and MC doesn't realize they were never going to appear. Only later heard that ML snatched a big project from the Lu family for which he worked hard. I like how authors are very vague on business, it's all deals, working long hours, signing etc. no details. ML also poured real dirt on another grandson of Lu family, who is notoriously popular for lace news in their city, but media covered real hammer with nude photos of a nude party. He did it in order to divert news from his own marriage and always protected the identity of his partner. Again MC realized these things only later and only after being told.
There's actually not a fight but a bit of a conflict, which resulted in nothing, ML still was attentive with several days of alienation, it all happened because ML confessed why he cared for MC's well-being, but MC answered that for him love is a task, since within his own family his father was praised for a loving husband, but acted the same towards the step-mother and doing identical things, thus perfectly copying emotions from one person to another, totally uncovering his true understanding and indifference to love.
Surely it raised suspicions in ML's heart. But just a bit later the friend he met at engament party told him of his wrong thinking that if ML didn't love him, he wouldn't do this and this and that. After which though MC still thought of this love as a task, but still felt that he wanted ML to be happy and they are in uneven relationship where he only receives, but never gives back. Then they get closer and cozier with ML.
On Spring Festival MC and ML visited MC's hometown. Where MC finally found out more about his past and how they met with ML. Prior to that his childhood friend came back, then he found that ML, speciall assistant that followed ML and his childhood friend all know each other. He didn't get it at first too, which is annoying af. AT one time he is sharp, at other times he is dumb as a plack of wood.
Anyway, MC and ML met when MC was still a kid and followed this big brother, ML, around. ML was recuperating after being wounded (basically targeted as a heir to big corporation to get his inheritance), he also felt guilty because of him MC fell into water and had a sever fever later, but MC didn't blame him. Here my brain exploded, the reason for it, since I mentioned ML thought MCs conduct is weird he invited a psychologist and within time MC confessed that he "killed his mother", but basically he blames himself that because of his birth his mother had her health declined and later she had lung infection which led to her death. And it made me crazy.. because he's a fucking med student. Why you should blame yourself for events that weren't under your control even. He should know these facts that some women indeed may suffer from health decline due to birth, birth in itself can bring a variety of weird symptoms. But nope, we're a guilty flower that's why his inability to understand love was born - because he didn't love himself, thus he didn't understand why others should love him and for what. Anyway this is where MC found more about the past between them and heard a lot of stories of his own actions towards ML and later ML explained that because MC cared for him, he became his emotional pillar at that time and helped him to go through many difficulties.
Honestly this is such a hurtful novel to read, I reached 70+ chapters, 2/3 of the book MC treats marriage as a task and love as a task, while on the background ML treats him well and caring, brings him to places he for sure cares about, makes him meet his parents, even asks him to bring parents' ashes home as a legal partner when he couldn't leave etc. which is infuriating to me. Since there's little to no drama events it's also pretty boring. Like the one drama with Lu family where they fabricated news of ML's rigid personality and such...but honestly he is in a business circle, news are nto about breaking a law, business people don't even care for such bs that happens online and his business doesn't even depend on population. Not to mention such stupid stuff till be forgotten. It was so... dumb. The only purpose of it for MC to finally start realizing that he really does too little for ML and he is tightly protected from all sides, ML never takes him out, never makes him face people he is uncomfortable wuth etc. The only thing he can give is love with his body and even in this department only after ML asks him to sometimes initiate things between them and it will make LN happy, only then LYH does something.
Thus if it wasn't for the 4 novels I follow which are good, I'd drop this way earlier, but I reached 70+ chapter, read the last one, which was just some random stuff and decided that I'll drop it for good. The main parts which made it infuriating for me I described, as for the rest..I really don't care, i can imagine what will happen in 30 chapters I missed. Also it has extras with MC's childhood friend and special assistant. The purpose of writing extras about them is beyond me, since it feels like a cash grab just because people felt they had a vibe.
RATE: 2/5. I suffered. This MC made me suffer.
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