Chapter One:My Secret Husband Is Back
“Get ready. I’m coming over tonight. We’re sharing a bed.”
Gong Chenye said it as if he were giving an order. Then he hung up without another word.
Ruan Nuonuo stared at her phone.
It took her a few seconds to remember something she’d almost forgotten.
She had a husband.
A husband she’d married on impulse two months ago—and hadn’t seen since.
Two months earlier, Nuonuo had come across an elderly woman who had collapsed in public. While everyone else stood by, too afraid to intervene, Nuonuo had rushed forward and performed emergency first aid.
The woman survived.
After recovering, the elderly woman tracked Nuonuo down, determined to repay the young woman who had saved her life.
At the time, Nuonuo was desperately trying to raise one hundred thousand yuan for her young niece’s heart surgery.
When the old woman learned about her predicament, she made an unexpected offer.
“Marry my grandson, and I’ll give you the money as a wedding gift.”
With her niece’s life hanging in the balance, Nuonuo had little room to hesitate.
She agreed.
The very next day, she and Gong Chenye—two complete strangers—went to the civil affairs office and registered their marriage.
The old woman had warned her that her grandson was nearly thirty. Nuonuo had braced herself for a greasy, middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a beer belly.
Instead, she’d gotten the shock of her life.
Gong Chenye was young, devastatingly handsome, and carried himself with the kind of quiet authority that made people instinctively take notice. He looked nowhere near thirty, though he possessed a maturity and composure that younger men rarely had.
At twenty-two, Nuonuo had assumed she was getting the short end of the stick by marrying a man nearly eight years older.
Now, she wasn’t so sure.
If anything, she might have gotten the better deal.
Unfortunately, her husband’s face was far more welcoming than his personality.
He had been cold and distant from the moment they met. Not once had he offered her even the slightest smile.
Handsome, arrogant, and emotionally unavailable.
After they signed their marriage certificate, he made his position perfectly clear.
“I married you to make my grandmother happy,” he told her flatly. “And you married me for the hundred thousand yuan. Neither of us married a stranger out of love.”
He slid a document across the table.
“So there’s no reason to pretend this is a real marriage. We’ll keep it private. We’ll make occasional appearances together when my grandmother expects us to, but otherwise, we live our own lives. No interference. No obligations. And no marital duties.”
Nuonuo glanced down at the document.
A divorce agreement.
His signature was already on it.
“When my grandmother passes away, all you have to do is sign,” he continued. “We can end the marriage without dragging things out or consulting each other.”
Nuonuo picked up the papers.
One signature from her, and she would be free.
Then Chenye placed a set of keys in front of her.
“This is the key to one of my properties. Our marriage may be a secret, but I won’t withhold anything you’re entitled to. If you want somewhere to live, you can move in and stay there by yourself.”
By herself.
Nuonuo understood immediately.
He wasn’t inviting her to live with him. He was giving her a place where they could continue living entirely separate lives.
Honestly, she couldn’t have asked for a better arrangement.
“Sounds good.”
She needed a place to stay anyway, so she accepted the keys without hesitation.
He had no interest in her, and she had no intention of chasing him.
With everything settled, they went their separate ways without looking back.
After that, Gong Chenye vanished.
No calls. No messages. Not a single sign of life.
He might as well have ceased to exist.
If it weren’t for the little red marriage certificate tucked away among her belongings, Nuonuo might have convinced herself that the entire episode had been some bizarre dream.
Life was busy enough without worrying about a husband who barely existed.
Between making ends meet and preparing products for her livestream business, she gradually forgot that she was even married.
Until that phone call.
⸻
At the time, Nuonuo was out shopping with her best friend, Yu Xiaomeng.
She had never kept her secret marriage from Xiaomeng.
“Hold on.” Xiaomeng stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, looking genuinely scandalized. “Let me get this straight. This man marries you, disappears for two whole months, and then suddenly comes back out of nowhere demanding to share your bed?”
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“What the hell is he up to?”
Nuonuo could only shrug. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Xiaomeng’s eyes widened as a wild theory struck her.
“Oh, my God. What if he wants you to have his baby?”
Nuonuo nearly choked.
“Are you serious?”
“Think about it! His grandmother wants a great-grandchild, doesn’t she? Maybe he’s decided you’re the most convenient candidate.”
Nuonuo had no idea what Gong Chenye was planning.
For now, she could only take things as they came.
By the time she returned home, the living room was cluttered with product samples she intended to sell during her livestreams. She carried everything into the storage room, then cleaned the apartment from top to bottom.
Only after everything was in order did she dig out her marriage certificate.
She stared at the name printed on it, mentally rehearsing it.
Gong Chenye.
Right.
That was her husband’s name.
Two months without a single word from him, and she’d actually managed to forget it.
By the time night had fallen, Chenye finally arrived.
Nuonuo opened the door.
And there he was.
Tall, impeccably dressed, and so unfairly handsome that even the dim apartment hallway seemed brighter with him standing in it.
This was only the second time she’d ever seen him in person.
And somehow, he was even more striking than she remembered.
“Have you had dinner?” she asked with a polite smile.
He didn’t answer.
His perfectly sculpted face remained as cold and unreadable as ever. Dressed in a crisp white shirt and tailored black trousers, he looked every inch the untouchable businessman—polished, intimidating, and almost painfully restrained.
Without waiting for an invitation, he stepped inside.
His gaze swept over the spotless floor.
Nuonuo pointed toward a brand-new pair of men’s slippers beside the shoe cabinet.
“I bought these for you today. I wasn’t sure what size you wear, so I guessed based on your height. You’re about six foot two, right? I got a size twelve. See if they fit.”
She’d estimated his height at around 188 centimeters and bought a pair of size 46 slippers.
Chenye stared at the ordinary plastic footwear.
For a moment, he seemed reluctant to put them on. Then, after a brief hesitation, he slipped off his polished leather shoes and stepped into the slippers.
They fit perfectly.
“Thank you,” he said at last.
It was the first remotely courteous thing he’d said since arriving.
Then he walked straight into the living room and settled into an armchair.
Nuonuo followed.
His tall frame filled the seat, one arm resting casually along the armrest. The posture was relaxed, almost lazy, yet he still managed to project an unmistakable air of authority.
Once Nuonuo sat down, he finally spoke.
“Have you been comfortable living here?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Good.”
He paused, his gaze drifting toward a vase of blooming gardenias on the coffee table.
Their delicate fragrance filled the room. The apartment was spotless, the windows sparkling clean, and the atmosphere unexpectedly warm.
For the briefest moment, his expression softened.
“From now on, I may need to stay here occasionally.”
“That’s fine.”
The apartment belonged to him, after all. Nuonuo had no reason to object.
Then she remembered the phone call.
She hesitated before adding, “But I thought our agreement specifically said we weren’t required to fulfill any marital obligations.”
“That’s true.”
Chenye leaned back against the chair.
His posture remained casual, but there was something unmistakably commanding about him.
“You know why I married you. It was to make my grandmother happy.”
He regarded her with cool detachment.
“Somehow, she found out that we haven’t been living together. She’s unhappy about it. I’ll need to stay here from time to time to keep her from worrying.”
He paused.
“And as for sharing a bed, my grandmother wants a great-grandchild.”
Nuonuo went still.
“She isn’t getting any younger,” he continued, his voice as matter-of-fact as if they were discussing a business arrangement. “I intend to grant her wish. So tonight, we’re sharing a bed.”
For a moment, Nuonuo couldn’t find her voice.
Their agreement had explicitly stated that neither of them would be expected to fulfill the duties of a married couple. She’d never imagined that her relationship with this virtual stranger would go any further than signing a few documents and occasionally pretending to be a happy wife in front of his grandmother.
Sleeping with him was one thing.
Having his child was something else entirely.
Their arrangement had been simple from the beginning. She’d married him to save her niece’s life, and he’d married her to please his grandmother. When the old woman eventually passed away, Nuonuo would sign the divorce papers, and they would go their separate ways.
No complications. No lingering ties.
But a child would change everything.
“I won’t let you walk away empty-handed,” Chenye said, apparently noticing her hesitation.
“When you give birth, I’ll transfer ownership of this apartment to you. On top of that, I’ll pay you a substantial sum.”
His tone was so calm that it made the words even more insulting.
“If we divorce, the child stays with me. You can ask for whatever compensation you want. Any amount. Just write it down.”
Nuonuo stared at him.
He made it sound so simple.
As though carrying a child for nine months, giving birth, and surrendering her own flesh and blood were nothing more than items on a contract.
As though every feeling in the world came with a price tag.
A knot of resentment tightened in her chest.
“Do you think I married you because I wanted your money?”
Chenye met her gaze.
The corner of his mouth lifted into a cold, mocking smile.
“Didn’t you?”
Nuonuo felt her cheeks burn.
She couldn’t exactly blame him for thinking that way. After all, she’d agreed to marry him for a hundred thousand yuan. To anyone looking at the situation from the outside, it was easy to assume she was simply after his money.
But that wasn’t the whole story.
She had always intended to repay his grandmother once her livestream business started making money.
She didn’t want to owe anyone anything.
And she certainly didn’t want to be looked down on by the man she was legally married to.
“That’s not why I—”
“I’m going to take a shower,” Chenye interrupted, his voice turning hard. “Get ready.”
He had no interest in hearing her explanation.
Before Nuonuo could say another word, he turned and walked into the master bedroom.
The door closed behind him.
Nuonuo sat there, her chest tight with frustration.
She had agreed to marry a stranger to save her niece.
She had accepted his rules, his distance, and his divorce agreement.
She had even gone out of her way to make him comfortable in a home he barely bothered to visit.
And now he expected her to give him a child—as if she were nothing more than another item he could purchase.
What infuriated her most wasn’t even the money.
It was the way he looked at her.
As if he’d already decided exactly what kind of woman she was.
And nothing she said could change his mind.
For the first time since marrying Gong Chenye, Nuonuo wondered whether she had made a terrible mistake.
Because a marriage that had once seemed simple was beginning to look like a trap.
And her husband had no intention of letting her forget who held the power.
End of Chapter One
