Chapter 1: I'll Marry Him

Everyone has a love story of their own in their heart. I hope you’ll be kind if I haven’t written this one well.

Wishing all the lovely readers a fortune!

Both leads have no previous sexual partners. This is a sweet romance about marriage before love and two people learning to live together, not a wish-fulfillment story where everything falls into place at once.

April in Jiang City had brought a full week of lingering plum rains. The air smelled damp and musty, and the endless drizzle was wearing on everyone’s nerves.

Ban Ban crouched beside the flower bed in the back garden, poking at a rose stem rotted by the rain. She didn’t even notice the mud on the hem of her dress.

She hadn’t seen her father in three days. Ever since the trouble at the company, he’d spent night after night in his study, the desk lamp burning until three or four in the morning.

Her older sister, Ban Ruo, had come home at two the previous morning. Her heels had struck the tiles in the entryway harder than usual.

Ban Ban had pretended to be asleep, listening as her sister took a call in the living room and lowered her voice. “Give us three more days. I know. We can discuss the interest when we meet.”

Ban Ban had pulled the covers over her head, tears silently soaking into her pillowcase.

She’d only graduated from the finance department at Nanda University last year. She had been delighted at the prospect of joining the family business, but no sooner had she completed the hiring paperwork than news broke that the company had run out of cash.

She’d heard her sister mention that a partner had run off with the money from an overseas project. Then the bank had abruptly called in its loans, leaving a shortfall of hundreds of millions of yuan that they couldn’t cover.

Ban Ban couldn’t make sense of the complicated accounts, but she could see what had happened to her father’s hair.

In just two weeks, Ban Shengwei had gone from a distinguished middle-aged man to an old man with gray hair.

And there was nothing she could do to help.

“Ban Ban.” Ban Ruo’s voice came from behind her.

Ban Ban hurriedly wiped her face and turned with a forced smile. “You’re back, Sis? You’re home early today.”

Ban Ruo wore a sharply tailored skirt suit. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, but her back was perfectly straight.

Seven years older than Ban Ban, she had always been the one to shoulder their troubles. Their father had been busy with business, and their mother had died young. Ban Ruo had been both sister and mother, shielding Ban Ban from everything she could.

“Don’t squat on the ground. It’s cold.” Ban Ruo pulled her up and brushed the mud from her hem. “Change into something a little more formal. We have a guest, and we don’t want him laughing at us.”

“Who is it?”

“Uncle Wen. The Wen family from up north.”

Ban Ban paused. Of course she knew the Wens. They had made their start in building materials before branching out into real estate and finance, and were a prominent name in northern business circles.

The families went back a long way. Wen Henian and her father had been university classmates, and though they lived at opposite ends of the country, they still visited around the holidays.

Her father had refused to see visitors for the past two weeks, though. Why was he seeing Wen Henian today?

Her heart gave a quick beat, but she asked nothing. She obediently went upstairs, changed into a simple white dress, and tucked her hair behind her ears.

On her way back down, she deliberately softened her footsteps. The living-room door was ajar, and her father’s voice came through, much huskier than usual.

“Old Wen, I appreciate the offer. But I can’t agree to this.”

“Shengwei, hear me out—”

“Ban Ruo has a boyfriend. You know that. She’s been with Xu for four years.”

Wen Henian gave a little laugh. “Don’t you have another daughter?”

A long silence followed.

Ban Ban held her breath. Her father’s voice rose sharply. “What are you getting at, Wen? Ban Ban is only twenty-one! How old is your son Wen Ting’an? Thirty-three, isn’t he? And I can hear the gossip about him from halfway across China!”

Wen Henian sighed. “I know I’m asking too much. My unfilial son has such a bad reputation that no decent family’s daughter dares marry him. Old Ban, I’d treat my daughter-in-law like my own girl. She’d want for nothing.”

“Ting’an does like to have his fun, but he can settle down—”

“Settle down?” Ban Shengwei grew angrier. “My daughter isn’t going to be sent off to make your son mend his ways! I’m telling you, there’s nothing to discuss. I’ll find a way to deal with the money myself. You can go back where you came from.”

“Old Ban, it was only a suggestion. Even if you refuse, do you really think I won’t help you? We’ve been friends for years.”

“I told my finance department before I came. The money should reach your account tomorrow.”

Ban Shengwei looked at him. “If you’d already decided to help, why bring up a proposal like that and make me feel indebted?”

Wen Henian heaved a deep sigh, playing up his misery. “Old Ban, you don’t know how hard it is for me. All I want before I die is to find a suitable wife for that unfilial son of mine. I remembered you had two daughters, and thought that if you agreed, the money could count as a betrothal gift. I only brought it up to see what you’d say.”

Ban Shengwei looked at him helplessly. “I’m not against a marriage between our families. But not to your son. His reputation is too poor.”

Ban Ban clenched the hem of her dress.

She stood outside the door for so long that her feet went numb. Then she took a deep breath and pushed it open.

“Dad.”

Both men turned. Ban Shengwei sat on the sofa, his suit jacket open and his tie loosened around his neck. His eyes were alarmingly bloodshot.

Wen Henian sat opposite him. He looked older than she remembered, but was still full of vigor. His eyes brightened when he saw her.

“This must be Ban Ban.” He stood and looked her over. “It’s been years. You’re all grown up.”

Ban Ban took after her mother, with a round face, fair skin and softly curved eyes. When she smiled, two dimples appeared in her cheeks.

When she’d been little, Uncle Wen used to tease her whenever he visited. “Ban Ban looks just like a little glutinous rice ball.”

She gave him a polite smile, then walked over and crouched in front of her father. Looking up at him, she said, “Dad, I heard everything.”

“Ban Ban, this isn’t something you should have heard—”

“Let me marry him.”

The living room fell so quiet that they could hear the clock ticking on the wall.

Ban Shengwei stared at her. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“It’s not nonsense,” she said softly. “Sis has Xu. They’ve been together for so many years, and I don’t want to put her in a difficult position. Uncle Wen’s family can help us, and we should be grateful. If I marry his son, it’ll be a way to repay him. Besides, what if his son does settle down?”

At some point Ban Ruo had come in too. She leaned against the doorframe, pale. “Ban Ban, you have no idea what Wen Ting’an is like.”

“I do.” Ban Ban lowered her head and pressed her lips together. “Dad just said he’s a womanizer who changes girlfriends more often than shirts. But it’s all right. He’s a Wen.”

She looked up at her father. Her eyes were a little red, but she didn’t cry. “Dad, I’m twenty-one. You and Sis have protected me all my life. Can I protect you both this once?”

Ban Shengwei’s lips trembled. For a long while, he couldn’t speak.

Wen Henian stood nearby, looking at the fair, soft-looking young woman with mixed feelings. He had indeed hoped for a marriage between their families, but seeing Ban Ban now, he felt that his own scoundrel of a son didn’t deserve her.

“Ban Ban,” he said gently, “I’ll be honest with you. Ting’an is a bit of a rascal, but he isn’t a bad person. He just loves having fun and hasn’t learned to rein himself in. If you’re willing to marry him, I promise you this: if he ever dares bully you, I’ll be the first to deal with him.”

Ban Ban looked at him, her eyes curving in a smile. “Uncle Wen, I believe you. I’ll marry your son.”

A weight lifted from Wen Henian’s heart, though the relief was tinged with sorrow. “Good, good. Don’t worry, Ban Ban. My son may be a flirt, but he doesn’t treat relationships recklessly. There’s hope for him yet. Once he sees you, he’ll surely settle down.”

Ban Ban nodded.

She didn’t know when she’d become so brave. Perhaps it had been the night she’d gotten up to use the bathroom and seen the light spilling through the crack in her father’s study door. She’d heard him sigh softly inside.

The sound had been quiet, but it had cut into her heart.

She couldn’t bear to watch her father’s hair turn white overnight, or her sister go from person to person begging for the company’s sake.

All she had to offer was herself.

Wen Henian stayed the night at the Ban house. Ban Shengwei sat smoking in his study until morning. When he went to find Wen Henian, his eyes were as red as a rabbit’s.

“Wen,” he said, pointing a finger at him, “if your son makes my daughter suffer in the slightest, I’ll fight him even if it costs me everything I own.”

Wen Henian nodded repeatedly. “Don’t worry. You have my word.”

“And another thing.” Ban Shengwei’s voice was hoarse. “They meet first. If Ban Ban doesn’t want to go through with it after seeing him, the whole thing is off. If—if she does agree, don’t make a big production of the wedding. She’s still young. I don’t want all sorts of people gossiping about her.”

Wen Henian agreed to everything and prepared to return north overnight.

When word reached the north, Wen Ting’an had just come out of a drinking party with a model in his arms. His father called.

“What?” He let the model go and straightened up. “Say that again.”

“I said I’ve arranged a marriage for you. The younger daughter of the Ban family in Jiang City. Her name is Ban Ban. You’ll meet next month, and if things go well, we’ll hold the wedding.”

Wen Ting’an narrowed his eyes in the night wind, a cold smile playing on his lips. “Dad, are you serious?”

“When have I ever joked about something like this?”

Wen Ting’an stubbed his cigarette out on a roadside trash can and thought for a moment. He remembered the Bans: his father’s old classmate had once come to dinner with his two daughters.

The older one had been pretty and, he’d heard, a good student. His impression of the younger one was hazy: a little ball of white hiding behind her sister, hardly saying a word.

“How old is she?” he asked.

“Twenty-one.”

Wen Ting’an scoffed. “Dad, are you finding me a wife or giving me a daughter to raise?”

“Shut up!” Wen Henian roared through the phone. “That girl only agreed to help her family. Don’t you dare pull a long face. We’re going to Jiang City next week to meet them. Clean yourself up, and don’t bring any of those hangers-on.”

The call ended.

Wen Ting’an looked at his darkened phone screen and sent his companion away. Alone on the street, he lit a cigarette. The night wind slipped into his open collar as he tipped his head back and blew a smoke ring.

Fine. He’d marry her. What difference did it make whom he married?

But as he flicked the ash from his cigarette, his father’s words came back to him: She only agreed to help her family. His brow twitched.

Did a twenty-one-year-old even know what marriage meant?

He shook his head, tossed away the cigarette and took out his car keys.

Back in Jiang City, Ban Ruo sat on the edge of Ban Ban’s bed, looking at her sister.

“Ban Ban, there’s still time to change your mind.”

Ban Ban sat there without looking up. “I won’t.”

“Wen Ting’an, he—”

“Sis.” Ban Ban interrupted her, lifting her head with a smile and two faint dimples. “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

Tears suddenly spilled from Ban Ruo’s eyes. She pulled her sister into her arms and buried her face against her shoulder. “It’s my fault. If only I were more capable—”

“You’re capable enough.” Ban Ban patted her back, her voice soft. “Sis, you’ve looked after me all my life. Let me look after you this once.”

At some point the rain had stopped. Jiang City had cleared for once, and the setting sun slipped through gaps in the clouds, casting the sisters’ overlapping shadows on the floor.

Ban Ban gazed at the light outside and thought about the north.

She had never been there. She didn’t know whether it really snowed heavily in winter, or whether people there really ate nothing but wheat-based food.

She didn’t know what the man named Wen Ting’an looked like, whether he had a good temper, or whether he would think her fat, or stupid, or ignorant about everything.

But she knew she had to marry him.

She would consider it the first selfish decision of her life.