The English title of this novel is My Groom Ran Away.
The blurb from NU is as below:-
All the rich people in City B know how much Ruan ZhiYin likes Qin Jue. She had blindly followed behind Qin Jue for many years and watched as he matured from a youthful boy to a young man. Eventually, she had finally waited until a grand wedding was planned for them.
The Qin and Ruan families were to be connected by marriage. On the day of the wedding, the groom Qin Jue went missing. Ruan ZhiYin knew that Qin Jue had rushed to City C for his ex-girlfriend who had tried to commit suicide. The guests had completely filled the seats and she, who had been looking forward to this wedding for years, finally completely gave up on Qin Jue.
She was not willing to let the Ruan family become a laughingstock, so she gritted her teeth and dialed the number of her arch-enemy: “Cheng YueLin, come and marry me right now. We will divorce in one year and I will give you the BeiCheng project.”
On the other side, Cheng YueLin stood in front of a floor covered in cigarette butts and held his phone as he raised a brow: “Miss Ruan’s groom ran away? Okay. Just wait. This Lord will come to marry you.”
The next day, young master Qin and his good friend returned to B City. The assistant who had come to pick them up looked a bit hesitant.
Good Friend: “Could it be that Ruan ZhiYin wants to terminate the marriage contract?”
Assistant: “No, that is not it. But…”
Qin Jue: “But what?”
Assistant: “Miss Ruan has switched to a new husband.”
Qin Jue: “?”
— Cheng YueLin who had returned home with a beauty: I’ve already received the certificate. You don’t need to call me. Thanks.
***
After the wedding.
Ruan ZhiYin realized: No matter what I do, I cannot leave this marriage.
Cheng YueLin was secretly overjoyed: This is a pie that I never would have thought would fall down from the heavens.
Qin Jue who was full of regrets: This is a wife that I can never get back even after she is cremated.
“You dare to run away from the wedding. I dare to change the groom.”
“Even after the cremation, you will never be able to get this wife back.”
My review:-
The face-slapping and groveling in this novel were so good that I did not mind reading the MTL as the novel wasn't fully translated yet. The MTL was easy to understand and did not hinder my reading. It was the best novel to start in the year 2022.
I really liked Ruan Zhiyin. I've rarely read a female lead who could so decisively break up and get over her ex. Instead of being wishy-washy or "understanding" about the situation, when her ex-fiance stood her up on the DAY OF THEIR WEDDING, she was like, "This is the final straw, I'm exhausted, and I don't want to do this anymore." Breaking up for her was a RELIEF. That's how much she had to put up with since they came back to China. Afterwards, she was introspective about their whole relationship and decisive about her decision to not get back together with Qin Jue, which was great!
Reading about Ruan Zhiyin slowly loosening up and lowering her barriers with Cheng Yuelin's (sometimes antagonizing) help was so satisfying. Ruan Zhiyin spent decades acting as a gentle, polite wallflower to avoid trouble after being found by her family. Only Cheng Yuelin saw that there was more to her and wanted to get her out of her shell. His arrogance and shamelessness was hilarious and made her so speechless that she forgot to feel down at times lol.
Cheng Yuelin was perfect for Ruan Zhiyin. He was unapologetically himself and wanted her to be the same. All of the little things he did for her finally came to light and all of his shameless little antics were also hilariously revealed. His friends were troopers for putting up with his "subtle" married life showoffs lol.
Watching Qin Jue suffer was also great. He really deserved it because of all of his actions. He kept on putting Ruan Zhiyin off like they would have more time later to solve their issues and get past barriers and ended up taking her for granted. Because they were together for eight years, and because she stood by him when he was at his lowest, he thought that she would love him forever, and so it was okay for him to take care of everyone else but her at times. And so he spends so much time in pain and denial after he finds out that she married someone else. As he deserves.
Who wouldn’t fall for a long-time secret love and a marriage of convenience trope at the same time?
Ruan Zhiyin and Cheng Yuelin were highschool classmates. She was reserved to everyone and could only show her temper to him. He was frivolous and indifferent, but was always concerned about her. He would always help her time and time again, without her knowing. Fortunately, what was meant to be would always be.
I love the fact that everyone was afraid of Cheng Yuelin, but he had always been gentle to Ruan Zhiyin (although she found him overbearing and ridiculous at times). It was all fate. Even if Cheng Yuelin put a hand on some things, I think it was still fate that it was him that she called first amongst everybody else. It was truly fate.
I also love that they were both so respectful and kind towards each other. I didn’t really have to deal with a prolonged and stupid misunderstandings. Ruan Zhiyin was also very firm with her stand in her life, I love that about her. She knew when to stop and when to move forward. And I really like that once she thought of something, she would stick to it until the end. Cheng Yuelin? What else could we ask for a male lead honestly? He was perfect in his own ways. His love for Ruan Zhiyin was unconditional and deep as it could be. I love how they handled the situations, it showed how they valued and understood one another. 🥹