Chapter 1 — My Best Friend's Older Brother Took Responsibility for Me

Halfway through having hot pot at my best friend's house, I rushed into the bathroom and threw up uncontrollably. My best friend chased after me, pounding on my back, and suddenly shrieked, "You aren’t pregnant, are you?! Where's the father?! Did he run away?!"

Standing at the bathroom doorway, her eldest brother glanced at me and said in an even, unhurried tone, "Not running. Right here."

The chopsticks of her entire four-person family clattered to the dining table at once.

...

The third day of the third lunar month. An auspicious day, ideal for travel, worship, and marriage.

I stepped out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, clutching a small red booklet tightly in my hand, my head still ringing.

"Unit 1, Apartment 2008, Qitang Apartments, Yunxi Road. That's my address."

A deep, warm, yet cool male voice sounded beside me.

"The door passcode is 001199. You can move in whenever you like."

"Oh..."

The man beside me was very tall—at least 188 centimeters—with a well-proportioned build and broad, tailored shoulders. He had fair, cool-toned skin and a sharp jawline. Dressed in a dark grey trench coat with a crisp, uncreased collar, he looked like a page ripped straight out of a high-fashion magazine as he stood in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau. No one would ever guess the wild, uninhibited state he had been in during those three hours in the hotel room last night.

Who would believe it if I said it out loud? Twelve hours ago, dead drunk, I grabbed the wrong person outside a bar, mistaking him for my blind date. He didn't say a word, nor did he pull away—he just quietly followed me. The good news: We slept together. The bad news: I slept with the wrong person. The even more shocking news: I just registered a marriage with the guy I slept with by mistake.

Ah, wait... what was his name again? Li something? I couldn't remember. I opened the red booklet to check his name. But before I could turn to the second page, a long-fingered, well-jointed hand reached over and took both booklets away.

"Forgot to mention. I'll hold on to the marriage certificates for now. The company has a few announcements coming up, and marital status needs to be filed."

Before registering, he had mentioned this—saying the company was in the process of going public and needed to disclose marital status. In short, he was wealthy. Empty-handed, I watched him stack the two red booklets together and slip them into the inner pocket of his trench coat.

"I have a business trip and will be back in about three days. Feel free to arrange your affairs in the meantime."

He gave me a slight nod, turned around, and walked away. Concise and to the point. A black Maybach parked right by the Civil Affairs Bureau. He opened the door, got in, the engine purred deeply, and the car drove off. Man and car disappeared.

I stood rooted to the spot for a moment, silently summing things up: Excellent family background, financially secure, top-tier looks—extremely suitable husband material. Just a bit hard to handle in bed. Ah well, no big deal.

The phone in my pocket rang loudly. I pulled it out to look—it was my best friend, Ye Zhiyi. The second I picked up, she fired a barrage of words.

"You were supposed to go on a blind date with my second brother last night! He waited for you at the bar all evening and didn't see a hair of you!" "Where on earth did you go?! You didn't answer your phone all night! If I couldn't reach you, I was about to call the police!"

My voice was raspy as I feebly explained, "I did go on the blind date..." I just picked the wrong person. Blame her second brother—it was late at night and he wore a bucket hat pulled all the way down to the bridge of his nose; who could recognize him? I stood at the bar entrance, saw a man of similar height who looked like Ye Zhihang from afar, and charged right over. Now it was too late for regrets. I hurriedly changed the subject.

"I'm standing at the door of the Civil Affairs Bureau, my legs are so sore. Can you come pick me up?" Don't ask why they were sore.

"Wait there." Ye Zhiyi huffed cold disapproval and hung up.

Ten minutes later, a black Mercedes-AMG G63 pulled up to the curb. I opened the passenger door and sat down, stunned. "Did you change cars?" Her usual car was a tiny white Honda Fit that could squeeze into the narrowest parking spots anywhere.

"Change cars? No way, this is my eldest brother's car. He's away on a business trip, so I borrowed it for two days. Don't touch anything inside—he's a total clean freak. Except for his future wife, if anyone touches his stuff, he goes ballistic." "Mm."

I sat obediently, not daring to budge. A faint, subtle scent wafted through the car—a white tea fragrance lingering around the tip of my nose. This scent... felt strangely familiar. Like I had smelled it somewhere before. I didn't think much of it, assuming it was just car air freshener.

Outside the window blew the March breeze of this northern city, the willows along the river sprouted fresh green buds, and the sky was crystal blue. I had just arrived in Hecheng yesterday. Having just broken up with my ex-boyfriend and resigned from my job, I flew from Jiangcheng to seek refuge with my best friend. Who knew the Civil Affairs Bureau was so close to her house?

The car took two turns, entered a villa district, drove down a tree-lined avenue for about five minutes, and pulled up before an independent villa with white walls and grey roofing. Ye Zhiyi led me upstairs.

"You're staying in this room—I picked it out for you! Well-ventilated on two sides, with a balcony facing the mountains. Next door is my eldest brother's room. Don't worry, he's a workaholic who barely comes home a few times a year."

I poked my head out to look. The balconies of the two rooms were connected, separated in the middle by several tall monstera plants that blocked most of the view. In the distance lay mountains and sky. Perfect for sitting and daydreaming. Touched, I hugged her tight.

"Yi Yi, you're the best! Little Yuan Yuan is definitely going to love this place." Yuan Yuan was my orange cat, currently boarded at a pet shop. I planned to pick Yuan Yuan up once I settled down. Ye Zhiyi waved her hand generously.

"Go pick up the cat first, then you and I are going out to party—three rounds of drinks at the bar!" I paused. "That might not be a good idea." "Why not? Don't tell me you're still saving your virtue for that scumbag? He had the nerve to hug two girls at a karaoke lounge and kiss them left and right, and you can't even go out for one night? If you still have love-brain, I'm breaking off our friendship!"

"I don't have love-brain! I have to take responsibility for my husband."

"Right, you're right..." Ye Zhiyi nodded along. Three seconds later, she let out an ear-splitting shriek. "WHAT DID YOU SAY????" "Since when do you have a husband?! Where did a husband pop out from?!" "Didn't you miss the blind date with my second brother? Who on earth did you secretly marry?!"

I hastily covered her mouth. "Keep your voice down." Lowering my tone, I retold the entire sequence of events from last night from start to finish: Drinking too much, mistaking the wrong guy, sleeping together in confusion, and registering the marriage to take responsibility. Hearing this, Ye Zhiyi grabbed my head and shook it back and forth, desperate to wring out whatever water was in my brain.

"We agreed you'd marry my second brother, become my sister-in-law, and inherit our family's massive fortune! Lin Wan, do you know how long I've been waiting for that! And you went and got a marriage certificate with a total stranger?!" "My sister-in-law is gone! How am I supposed to live?!" "Divorce! Before my second brother finds out, get a divorce quickly!"

"I don't think I can—there's a thirty-day cooling-off period." I pondered a moment and added in a murmur, "Besides, he's super handsome. Even handsomer than your second brother."

Ye Zhiyi's face turned green. "Impossible. My second brother is the most handsome man in all of Hecheng; his online fan club calls his looks peerless. Who could possibly be handsomer?"

"There is someone," I said with complete certainty. "What's his name? How handsome is he? Where's the marriage certificate? Let me see." "He confiscated it."

Ye Zhiyi cursed in frustration. "Definitely a scheming, dark-hearted guy! Seeing how naive and clueless you are, he tricked you into his trap, ate you clean, and even hid the evidence!" "Husband my foot—he's a scammer!"

Hearing her analysis, I began to sway too. Wasn't I the one who took advantage of him? How did it sound like I was the victim when she put it that way? Could I really have been scammed into marriage? But he was just so handsome. Oh well... if I was scammed, so be it.

I tugged her arm. "Is there anything to eat? I'm hungry." "Yes, I ordered braised carp with pickled greens. Let me take you out to eat." Cursing as she might, she still doted on her best friend and pulled me out to eat.

Halfway through the meal, my phone lit up with a familiar number. I glanced at it and hung up immediately. Three seconds later it rang again. Hung up again. The third time, I answered emotionlessly, and a man's voice came through right away.

"Lin Wan, stop throwing a fit, okay? I'm giving you a step down right now. If you don't take it, there won't be another chance."

Chu Yan. My ex-boyfriend. Or rather, the "outstanding" ex-boyfriend who was filmed hugging two girls at a karaoke bar.

"We've broken up. All you need to do is play the role of a dead ex-boyfriend well." "You're breaking up with me just over that? The client ordered those girls, it had nothing to do with me! I sat by the door waiting for them to finish talking business, I didn't touch anyone—I thought it was filthy!"

"Get lost." I hung up and blocked him immediately. Two seconds later, another number called. Blocked again.

When someone is pushed past the point of speechlessness, all they can do is laugh. *The client ordered girls, you didn't touch them, you thought it was filthy, you just sat at the door—you're a paragon of devoted, clean boyfriends.* Nine out of ten men used this exact template, and Chu Yan actually thought I'd fall for it a third time. But miserably enough, I *had* trusted him for two full years. Until someone posted that video online, and I saw with my own eyes my "clean, devoted" boyfriend holding two women in his arms, kissing them left and right. I didn't want to remember that scene ever again. Too embarrassing.

While I was fuming, Ye Zhiyi suddenly put down her chopsticks and looked out the window. "That guy... is he looking at you?" I followed her gaze. Parked outside the restaurant was a silver car with a figure in the driver's seat. I recognized that car—it was Chu Yan's.

"He stalked me all the way here?" Ye Zhiyi snapped up. "How does he know you're here?" "I don't know. Probably checked my location—I forgot to turn it off earlier." "You wait here." Ye Zhiyi slammed her napkin on the table, grabbed her phone, and prepared to charge out.

"Ye Zhiyi! What are you doing!" "Teaching him how to be a human being." I hastily pulled her back. "Don't go, it's not worth it." "You won't let me curse at him?" "The more you curse, the more hyped he gets. He's the type who likes being cursed at; the more you react, the more addicted he becomes."

Ye Zhiyi sat down angrily and chugged her lemonade in one go. "So what now?" "Turn off location sharing and ignore him. After eating, we'll go to another shop. When he can't find us, he'll leave on his own." "Fine." She bit her straw, glaring out the window. "A man like that will get his karma sooner or later."

I said nothing, lowering my head to turn off location sharing, feeling a slight headache. Chu Yan was even clingier after breaking up than when we were dating—calling, texting, asking friends to pass messages, and now following me all the way to Hecheng. I only told Ye Zhiyi about coming here. How did he find out?

When we stepped outside after eating, the silver car was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief. Good thing he left.

Ye Zhiyi drove the G63 to take me to pick up Yuan Yuan, nagging all the way about helping me report all of Chu Yan's social media accounts. In front of the pet shop, a staff member carried Yuan Yuan out—a chubby orange cat who purred the moment it saw me.

"Darling, Mommy's here." Yuan Yuan rubbed against my face and obediently jumped into my arms without any awkwardness.

Back at the Ye villa, Yuan Yuan clashed with Dou Dou—Ye Zhiyi's Old English Sheepdog. One cat and one dog glared at each other for two seconds: Yuan Yuan puffed out its fur, Dou Dou wagged his tail. Five minutes later, the two pets were chasing each other noisily up the stairs. Animal friendships were so simple.

I went to my room, unpacked my luggage, and reviewed my documents for work tomorrow. Before coming to Hecheng, I had passed an online interview for a fashion styling studio here, and tomorrow I would officially start work. Everything was arranged. I flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. New city, new job, new best friend's house, new husband. Except for this new husband... I didn't even remember his full name.