Chapter 1: The Morning After the Mistake

Yun Qianqian woke up with a start, her head throbbing. The room was unfamiliar—sleek, modern, and expensive. But what alarmed her most was the heavy arm draped possessively over her waist.

She froze. Slowly, she turned her head and gasped. Lying next to her was a man with chiseled features, looking like a Greek god in repose. It was Gu Qichen. The ruthless CEO of the Gu Corporation.

“Good morning, Mrs. Gu,” he mumbled, his eyes still closed, his voice rasping with sleep. “Do you find me comfortable?”

“I… I…” Yun stammered, scrambling backward and nearly falling off the bed. “You! You’re supposed to be disabled! My aunt said I was marrying a cripple!”

Gu Qichen opened his eyes. They were dark, cold, and sharp as broken glass. He sat up, the sheet falling to reveal a perfectly sculpted, and very functional, chest.

“Rumors are often exaggerated,” he said dryly. “And you… you’re the woman my grandmother forced into my bed. Listen carefully. We are married on paper only. Do not expect love. Do not expect affection. And above all, do not let anyone at the office know who you are.”

Yun swallowed hard. She had agreed to this arranged marriage solely for the 200,000 yuan needed for her mother’s life-saving heart surgery. She didn’t care about his love. She just needed the job he had promised her.

“Deal,” she said, straightening her spine. “I’ll be the best assistant you’ve ever had. And at work, we are strangers.”

“Good,” Gu sneered. “Just remember, last night, you said anyone who crossed the line on the bed would be a dog. You were the one hugging me this morning.”

Yun’s face turned crimson.

Chapter 2: The Impossible Boss and the Lost Memory

Life at the Gu Corporation was a battlefield. By day, Gu Qichen was a tyrant. He demanded perfection, made Yun run impossible errands, and treated her with icy indifference.

“Redo this report. It’s garbage,” he’d say, tossing files onto her desk.

Yun grit her teeth and worked harder. She had to. But she wasn’t the only one vying for his attention. Manager He, a glamorous but vicious executive, had her claws out. She saw the “poor” new assistant as a threat and took every opportunity to humiliate Yun.

“You’re just a gold digger from the slums,” Manager He sneered in the breakroom. “The CEO is waiting for his true love. A girl from his childhood named ‘Ua’. You will never be her.”

Yun paused. Ua? The name sounded familiar, triggering a dull ache in the back of her mind, but the memories were blocked by a high fever she’d had as a child before being adopted.

Unbeknownst to Yun, Gu Qichen was obsessed with finding “Ua,” the little girl from the orphanage who had saved him twenty years ago. He had promised to marry her. He didn’t realize that the “gold digger” he was currently married to was the very same girl.

Chapter 3: The Fake Husband Fiasco

The company announced a mandatory gala dinner. The catch? Everyone had to bring their spouse.

Yun panicked. She couldn’t bring Gu Qichen—he was the boss! Desperate to keep their secret, she called her childhood friend, Dr. Zhang, to pose as her husband for the night.

The dinner was going smoothly until the doors swung open. The room went silent. Gu Qichen walked in, radiating power and menace. He never attended these staff dinners.

His eyes scanned the room and locked onto Yun. Then, they drifted to the man sitting next to her—Dr. Zhang, who was laughing and peeling shrimp for her.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. Gu marched over to their table.

“Is this the husband?” Gu asked, his voice deceptively calm, though his knuckles were white.

“Yes, Mr. Gu,” Yun lied, sweating nervously. “This is… my husband.”

“Funny,” Gu said, pulling up a chair and squeezing between them. “I heard your husband had a condition. He looks remarkably healthy.”

The dinner turned into a nightmare. Gu aggressively questioned Dr. Zhang, criticizing his job, his clothes, and his relationship with Yun. Under the table, Gu’s leg pressed firmly against Yun’s, a silent, possessive warning.

Later that night, inside his Bentley, Gu exploded.

“You hired an actor?” he growled, cornering her against the car door. “Why? Are you ashamed of me?”

“We agreed to keep it a secret!” Yun yelled back. “And why do you care? You’re in love with some ghost from your past! We’re getting divorced anyway!”

Gu stared at her, conflict raging in his eyes. He was supposed to hate this arrangement, but seeing her with another man had driven him to the brink of madness.

Chapter 4: The Sabotage

The tension culminated during the company’s massive livestream event. Yun was chosen to be the host because of her natural charisma, a decision that drove Manager He insane with jealousy.

On the day of the broadcast, millions were watching. Yun stepped onto the stage, looking stunning in a gown Gu had secretly ordered for her.

“Welcome to the Gu Corp Annual Showcase!” she smiled at the camera.

Suddenly, she felt something crawling on her hand. She looked down at the product box she was holding. It was swarming with cockroaches.

Manager He had planted them.

Yun gasped but maintained her composure, trying to laugh it off as a prank. But Manager He wasn’t done. She had loosened the bolts on the stage scaffolding.

CREAAAK.

A massive lighting rig above Yun gave way.

“Yun! Move!”

It wasn’t a security guard who screamed. It was Gu Qichen.

Ignoring the rolling cameras and the shocked gasps of the board members, the CEO sprinted across the stage. He tackled Yun, shielding her body with his own just as the rig crashed down where she had been standing.

Dust and debris filled the air. Silence fell over the studio.

“Are you okay?” Gu whispered frantically, checking her for injuries, his icy mask completely shattered. “Speak to me!”

Chapter 5: The Truth Comes Out

In the hospital waiting room, the truth finally unraveled.

Grandma Gu arrived, furious. She threw a stack of old photos onto Gu Qichen’s lap.

“You blind fool!” Grandma yelled. “You’ve been treating your wife like a stranger while searching the world for a memory!”

Gu looked at the photo. It was him as a boy in the orphanage, holding hands with a little girl. The girl had a unique birthmark on her wrist—the exact same birthmark he had seen on Yun’s wrist when he pulled her from the wreckage.

“Yun… is Ua?” Gu whispered, his world tilting on its axis. “She’s the one I promised to marry?”

“Yes!” Grandma snapped. “She lost her memory after a fever. But the heart remembers, even if the head forgets. And you almost let her die!”

Chapter 6: The CEO’s Public Confession

A week later, Yun was recovered. She returned to the office, expecting to be fired for the livestream disaster. Instead, she found the entire staff gathered in the main hall.

Manager He stood in the center, handcuffed by police officers. The investigation ordered by Gu had proved she sabotaged the stage.

“Mr. Gu, I did it for you!” Manager He cried as she was dragged away. “She’s just a nobody! She doesn’t deserve you!”

Gu Qichen stood on the podium, looking more imposing than ever. He walked down the steps, straight toward Yun. The crowd parted.

“You’re right,” Gu said, his voice echoing in the silent hall. “She isn’t just a nobody.”

He took Yun’s hand and pulled her close, interlacing their fingers for everyone to see.

“She is the woman I have loved for twenty years. She is the savior of my childhood. And most importantly,” he looked into Yun’s shocked eyes, his gaze softening into pure adoration, “She is Mrs. Gu. My wife.”

The office erupted in gasps. Yun looked at him, tears welling in her eyes.

“You found me,” she whispered.

“I never stopped looking,” he replied, kissing her in front of the entire company. “And I’m never letting you go again.”

THE END