The Substitute Bride

Four years ago, the powerful alliance marriage between the Chu and Ruan families shocked the business world. Four years later, one month before the wedding, Chu Qing found a hemp rope on her brother Chu Bai’s windowsill—his room was empty, leaving only a note on the table: —I will absolutely not marry her! Rumors circulated that the Ruan family’s heiress, Ruan Qiu, who had been studying abroad, was hot-tempered, outrageously bold in looks, and could kick down a cow with one foot. Chu Bai’s sudden disappearance threw the Chu family into chaos. In a panic, Chu Qing was pushed into the spotlight instead. Chu’s mother earnestly assured her: “Just two weeks—in two weeks, I’ll definitely drag that unfilial son back!” A day later, Chu Qing nervously encountered the infamous “she-devil” Ruan Qiu. At first glance— Chu Qing froze in place, staring dumbfounded at Ruan Qiu’s picturesque features, momentarily speechless. Ruan Qiu gave her a faint smile: “Qing Qing.” After their brief exchange, Chu Qing left in a daze. She couldn’t wrap her head around how her high school crush—her revered class monitor and goddess—had suddenly become her fiancée. Meanwhile, Ruan Qiu gazed at her retreating figure, lost in thought, until Chu Bai appeared and stretched out his hand: “I risked getting beaten to death by our parents for this. Cash payment, non-negotiable!” **Unrequited Love & Marriage Before Love** —”Every step I’ve schemed was for this very moment.” Basically a story about a fool guarding her brother’s fiancée despite drowning in unrequited love, all while a cunning fox meticulously sets her trap.