Chapter 1
“Bang... Bang...”
The dull, rhythmic count echoed suddenly through the sterile orthopedic operating room.
Following the sound, the chief surgeon, Wen Yan, stood in full sterile gear with a surgical mallet in hand, staring intently at the patient’s fractured humerus as she struck with precise, steady force.
“Bang... Bang...”
Each tap landed with the same even pressure, matching the beat she murmured under her breath; the rhythm was strikingly distinct.
Sweat on Wen Yan’s temples slid down along the edge of her mask and dropped to the floor beside the operating table, where it spread into a small wet spot.
“Dr. Wen, the reduction is in place!”
The scrub nurse stared at the image on the monitor, admiration clear in her voice.
Wen Yan stopped at once and turned her wrist to hand back the orthopedic mallet.
Her voice came muffled through the mask, a little hoarse from exertion. “Prepare for fixation.”
Another hour of careful work later, when the final screw was tightened and the incision sutured, Wen Yan finally let out a breath. She reached up and pulled off her mask, revealing a face that was clean-cut, sharp-featured, and strikingly fresh.
She had barely stepped out of the operating room and had not even had a sip of warm water when her phone in her pocket started vibrating wildly. The screen flashed the word “Mom” over and over, urgent and frantic.
Wen Yan’s heart sank. She answered at once. “Hello, Mom.”
“Yan Yan! It’s bad! Something terrible happened!” Her mother’s voice on the other end trembled with tears, panicked to the point of incoherence. “Your brother... your brother ran away!”
“Tomorrow is his wedding to the Jin family’s eldest daughter! The guests have already been invited, and the hotel is already decorated. What are we supposed to do now?”
Wen Chen ran away?
Wen Yan tightened her grip on the phone, her brows drawing together at once.
Wen Chen was her twin brother. He had always been timid, evasive, and prone to running from problems.
Back then, agreeing to marry into the Jin family had come from half persuasion and half coercion from their parents. Now that he had fled at the last minute, it wasn’t exactly unexpected—only the timing was terribly disastrous.
“Mom, don’t panic yet.” Wen Yan forced herself to stay calm, her voice steady. “The wedding is tomorrow. We still have time.”
“Let Dad talk to the Jin family first and see if it can be delayed. We’ll look for him too. I’m off work now; I’ll go home right away.”
After hanging up, Wen Yan briefly explained the situation to her colleagues, grabbed her coat, and rushed to the parking lot.
By the time her car drove out of the hospital gates, night had already fallen. Streetlights came on one by one, giving her face a heavy, solemn cast.
The Jin family was a true old-money household, with deep foundations and vast connections.
Her brother’s escape from the wedding had undeniably slapped the Jin family hard in the face. Whether the Wen family could weather the coming fury was still an open question.
And then, on the road home, a message from an unfamiliar number suddenly popped up on her phone.
Wen Yan spared it a glance and saw that it was from her useless brother: “Sis! Jin Zijin is just an icy devil queen. If I marry her, I’ll never be happy in this life.”
“For the sake of how I helped you steal your ID card and run away from home when we were kids, you have to take this marriage off my hands!”
Wen Yan’s heart gave a hard lurch. She immediately called the number back. All she got in return was a string of busy tones...
That bastard Wen Chen had actually blocked her!
Fine!
Wen Yan clenched her teeth so hard it hurt, fury surging through her.
She drove like the wind. Forty minutes later, she parked in the underground garage of the villa and hurried upstairs.
The moment the elevator doors opened, she heard overlapping voices from inside the house. Not only her parents; it seemed there were other people too.
Her heart jolted again. She stepped inside and headed for the living room.
The living room was brightly lit, but the atmosphere was so oppressive it was hard to breathe.
Her parents sat on one side of the sofa, pale and at a loss.
Across from them sat a middle-aged couple with elegant, luxurious bearing; they were the Jin family’s parents, their faces dark with anger.
And most eye-catching of all was the woman seated in the center.
Jin Zijin.
Wen Yan had only seen her three times.
The first was at a betrothal dinner between the two families, the second when they took engagement photos, the third when the wedding arrangements were confirmed. Each time they had been far apart; all Wen Yan remembered was her cool brows and eyes, and the sense that she kept everyone at arm’s length.
At that moment, Jin Zijin was wearing a well-tailored black velvet gown, lounging lazily against the back of the sofa. Her long black hair was loosely pinned up, revealing a slender, fair neck.
Her right hand idly traced the rim of her cup. Though seated, she carried an overwhelming presence of her own, as if the right to direct the entire living room were in her hands.
At the sound of the door opening, everyone’s gaze snapped toward the entrance.
Wen Yan froze, awkwardly raising a hand in greeting. “Uncle, Auntie, Miss Jin, Mom, Dad.”
Jin Zijin looked up. Those deep eyes were like a cold pool, calm to the point of stillness yet somehow piercing. She swept a faint glance over Wen Yan before looking away again.
Then the woman spoke at an unhurried pace. Her voice was cool and pleasant, but carried an unquestionable resolve. “Since Dr. Wen is back, let’s make things clear.”
“Tomorrow’s wedding is already fully set. Domestic and overseas partners, relatives, and elders are all here. The ceremony must go on as planned.”
Wen’s father hurriedly stood, his face full of apology and flattery. “Zijin, don’t worry! We’ve already mobilized every connection we have, and we’re searching the whole city for Wen Chen. We’ll definitely find him and absolutely won’t delay tomorrow’s wedding!”
Jin’s father gave a cold snort, impatience thick in his voice. “Search the whole city? Since Wen Chen dared to run, he has already disregarded the face of both families. My Jin family has wealth and power; do you think we care about a deserter?”
Jin Zijin lifted a hand lightly, stopping her father’s anger.
Her fingertips still traced the cup’s rim as she said evenly, “Since Wen Chen has already run, then he’s no longer needed.”
The room fell silent at once.
Wen Yan’s mother blinked, then asked carefully, “Then... then who will hold tomorrow’s wedding? Everything’s already been arranged. We can’t just cancel it at the last minute, can we?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Jin Zijin, waiting for her answer.
Jin Zijin slowly raised her hand, her long, fair finger pointing with absolute precision toward Wen Yan, who had just stopped at the doorway and hadn’t even had time to change out of her shoes.
“Isn’t there still one more?”
Her voice was very soft, but it was like a pebble dropped into a still lake, instantly sending out ripples.
“Me?” Wen Yan pointed at her own nose, disbelief written all over her face. “Miss Jin, you’re joking, right? I’m a woman, and...”
“So what if you’re a woman?” Jin Zijin cut her off, lifting a brow slightly. A trace of barely perceptible cunning flashed through her cool eyes. “What era is this? Same-sex couples can get married too. If the law recognizes it and the relatives are witnesses, what’s impossible about it?”
She paused, then swept her gaze over both sets of parents, her tone carrying an edge no one could refuse. “Wen Chen ran from the wedding, so the Wen family broke faith first. Now there are two options. Either Wen Yan steps in and the wedding proceeds as scheduled, and the cooperation and relationship between the Jin and Wen families continues.”
“Or the wedding is canceled, the Jin family takes back all resources, and we pursue the Wen family’s breach of contract.”
That struck the Wen family right at their weak point.
The Wen family depended entirely on the Jin family’s resources to keep things moving. How could they afford breach-of-contract damages?
Wen Yan’s parents exchanged a look, each seeing struggle and helplessness in the other’s eyes.
One side was their daughter’s life; the other was the family’s livelihood. After weighing it, they both looked toward Wen Yan almost simultaneously, their eyes full of pleading.
The Jin parents had clearly also accepted the arrangement by default. Jin’s mother even spoke up to smooth things over. “Yan Yan is a good child. We’ve seen her a few times; she’s steady and capable, and she suits Zijin.”
“Since Zijin doesn’t mind, I think this will work.”
Wen Yan looked at the absurd scene before her and felt her head buzzing.
She had thought coming home meant discussing how to handle her brother’s runaway wedding. Instead, she had been shoved straight to the center of the storm and turned into his replacement.
She wanted to argue; she wanted to refuse. But looking at her parents’ pained faces, looking at Jin Zijin’s calm, controlled expression, the words reached her lips and were swallowed back down.
And so, under Jin Zijin’s forceful lead and her declaration that “same-sex couples can get married,” Wen Yan was somehow pushed onto the wedding stage for the next day.
The next day, the sun was bright. The banquet hall at the Peninsula Hotel, owned by the Jin family, was full of guests in fine clothes and elegant finery.
Wen Yan had her long hair pinned up and was wearing an oversized black suit, standing in a daze at the far end of the red carpet.
It was the size originally prepared for Wen Chen; hanging loosely on her, it looked especially ridiculous.
Looking at the lively wedding scene, one question kept looping in Wen Yan’s mind: Who was she? What was she doing? Why was she standing here?
Just yesterday she had been in the operating room, swinging an orthopedic hammer and shouting “Eighty, eighty.” How had she ended up in a suit today, about to marry Jin Zijin, a woman she had seen only three times?
It was all too unreal, like a bizarre dream.
Just as her mind drifted away, the familiar wedding march suddenly rang out with a bright ding-dong-ding-dong, melodious and solemn, each note striking straight at Wen Yan’s heart.
She subconsciously turned toward the entrance of the banquet hall.
There, she saw Jin Zijin in a pure white fishtail wedding gown, the layered skirt covered in tiny crystals that flashed brilliantly under the chandeliers.
Her long hair was twisted into an exquisite bun, crowned with a pearl tiara passed down through the family. Her makeup was light, yet it couldn’t hide her breathtaking beauty.
Most unexpectedly, she wasn’t being escorted by her father. Instead, she was supported by a white-haired but spirited old lady, stepping onto the red carpet one careful step at a time and walking toward Wen Yan.
That was the Jin family’s matriarch, Jin Shuangye; the true pillar holding the family steady.
For even the matriarch to appear in person made it clear how much importance the Jin family still placed on this wedding, even after the groom had been swapped out.
Wen Yan’s heartbeat inexplicably quickened as she watched Jin Zijin approach step by step.
As the distance closed, she could clearly see the tiny highlights on the other woman’s lashes, the pale pink gloss on her lips, and those eyes that were still cool, though perhaps a little softer than usual.
When Jin Zijin stopped in front of her, she lifted her eyes slightly and let her gaze settle on Wen Yan’s face. She said nothing, only gave a slight nod.
The officiant’s voice came at exactly the right moment, warm and resonant. “Please exchange rings, the two of you.”
A staff member handed over the ring box. Inside were two simple platinum bands.
Wen Yan mechanically picked up one and looked at the hand Jin Zijin held out.
That hand was fair and slender, the nails neatly trimmed, the healthy pink of the nail beds standing out sharply against her cool demeanor.
Carefully, Wen Yan slid the ring onto Jin Zijin’s ring finger. The touch was cool, yet carried a strange weight.
Jin Zijin also picked up the other ring and, with elegant, unhurried movements, placed it on Wen Yan’s hand.
The cold touch of metal settled around her finger like an invisible shackle, binding the two of them together completely.
“Now, please have the two newlyweds kiss each other.”
As the officiant’s words fell, the guests broke into warm applause and teasing cheers.
Wen Yan stood frozen, her mind blank.
A kiss?
With Jin Zijin?
Before she could even react, the person in front of her leaned forward slightly and came closer.
A faint, cool fragrance drifted to her nose—Jin Zijin’s usual scent, crisp like winter plum blossoms, with a trace of sweetness that was hard to detect.
The next second, warm, soft lips pressed to hers.
Very light. Very brief. Yet like a current of electricity, it shot through Wen Yan’s entire body in an instant.
She went still.
Not cold. Not at all.
Jin Zijin’s lips were warm, carrying heat, and Wen Yan could even feel her slightly trembling lashes brushing across her cheek, bringing a fine, ticklish sensation.
The legendary ice mountain, the emotionless devil woman; at that moment, she actually carried such astonishing warmth.
After the kiss, Jin Zijin was the first to pull back. A faint flush rose over her cheeks, vanishing so quickly it was easy to mistake it for an illusion.
She lowered her eyes again, hiding the emotion in them, and returned to her usual coolness.
As for Wen Yan, she was as if pinned in place by a spell. She stood there, her heart pounding wildly, her face burning hot.
The wedding march still played on. Guests clapped in waves, but she could hear nothing and see nothing.
In her mind, only one absurd thought remained, extreme beyond belief——
This woman’s lips were really soft, and she smelled so good.