When I Stopped Acting Spoiled, My Arranged Husband Fell Apart - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

One of Zhuo Zhishu’s friends had returned from abroad, so the group arranged to have dinner together.

At half past nine that night, I came across a post about a new dessert shop. It happened to be near the restaurant where they were eating, so I immediately sent it to him.

[Zhuo Zhishu! I want this.]

[They close at ten. Find a minute to buy it before they shut, got it?]

[Zhuo Zhishu, Zhuo Zhishu!]

He didn’t answer.

That was strange.

Even when he was at work, he normally replied within five minutes. If something special came up, he would always warn me beforehand.

I pouted and called him instead.

His phone was off!

I knew he wouldn’t do anything terrible, but I was still annoyed. We had only recently argued over whether to adopt a kitten.

I put on a coat and went out to catch him red-handed.

…

Zhuo Zhishu and I often ate at that restaurant. The manager recognized me at once and pointed me toward their private room upstairs.

I had just raised a hand to push open the door when a man’s voice came from inside.

“That’s ruthless, Zhuo. Once the time comes, she’ll fall right into line.”

“Just a little trick.”

Zhuo Zhishu chuckled.

“You’re the only one who could put up with that temper of hers. None of us would want her. Honestly, what do you call it? Suffering in silence for the greater good?”

The room erupted in laughter.

My fists clenched before I could stop them. I tried to calm myself.

What if they weren’t talking about me?

After all, Zhuo Zhishu had nothing to gain from putting up with me for so long.

I had barely managed to reassure myself when the next exchange burst that fragile bubble.

“Only three months until your agreement with your wife ends, right? I can already picture her bawling her eyes out. Ha!”

“Keep it quiet. Otherwise all my hard work will have been for nothing.”

So Zhuo Zhishu had treated me well just to make me complacent—so that I would become spoiled, overreach, and bring ruin upon myself?

I hadn’t always been willful.

Quite the opposite. I had been gentle, sensible, and impeccably mannered: a puppet my father had raised specifically for a business marriage.

Pretty. Obedient. Incapable of defiance.

Ever since I was young, wealthy heirs had lined up to marry me.

The only truly willful thing I had ever done was slip away to the rooftop during a banquet.

That was where I met Zhuo Zhishu.

“Would you like to marry me, Miss Shen?” he asked. “You can name any condition you want.”

“Any condition?”

In the first twenty-three years of my life, those words had been foreign to me.

I stared at him in confusion.

He only smiled. “Yes. Anything.”

Maybe the night wind had been too warm. Maybe it had scrambled my thoughts and made me bold enough to try for another kind of life.

I heard myself say, “…Could we spend four years seeing if we suit each other, then divorce amicably if we don’t?”

Zhuo Zhishu agreed with surprising ease.

My father’s training must truly have worked, I thought.

In everyone’s eyes, I was the ideal woman to marry: a beautiful, docile pet cat who posed no threat.

Zhuo Zhishu must have seen me the same way.

So after our wedding, I never forgot the rules.

Don’t question him. Don’t bother him. Don’t cross the line.

Once, I got lost in our villa complex and wandered in the cold for over an hour rather than trouble him. Only after I twisted my ankle did I open our chat and stare at it, wondering whether a message at this hour would interrupt his work.

[Hello. I’m sorry to bother you during work, but I’m lost. Could you please tell me the house number again?]

It was a simple sentence, yet I couldn’t bring myself to send it.

As I hesitated, a long-fingered hand plucked the phone from mine.

I looked up. Zhuo Zhishu stood over me, reading the screen, the wind lifting the loose hair over his forehead.

“You’re my wife,” he said. “That means you can act spoiled with me, pester me, lose your temper, and make unreasonable demands.

“You can ask me to do anything.”

He handed the phone back. The long, painstaking message I had typed was gone, replaced by three curt words.

[Come get me.]

Zhuo Zhishu closed his hand gently over mine and pressed Send.

My heart began to hammer.

The culprit behind it remained perfectly calm as he swept me into his arms.

“Let’s go home,” he murmured.

He knew what I had been like before.

He was the one who had taught me to be willful.