From Fake to Forever

when they reached Zhen Bao.

The two of them had looked Fu Mingshi over as they approached. Zhen Bao gave Fu Mingshi a faint smile. "President Fu." The man was very tall and his face shape was probably quite handsome too. But Zhen Bao did not like the sunglasses on his nose. She felt that people who did not take off their sunglasses even when greeting others were a bit arrogant.

"How long are you staying this time?" Zhen Bao chatted with the "photographer" enthusiastically. Last time he had taken a few photos of her and said before leaving that he would mail a copy back to her. Zhen Bao had waited for a long time without receiving anything, and was disappointed. She had forgotten all about it until now that he had come again.

Her eyes were clear. Although the driver did not know the girl was still looking forward to getting the photos, he felt bad about continuing to lie to her. Scratching his head, he looked to his boss for guidance.

"You go wait down the mountain first," Fu Mingshi said, taking off his sunglasses and looking at the driver.

Without another word, the driver immediately left.

Only then did Fu Mingshi turn to Zhen Bao. Very formally, he extended his right hand to her, his dark eyes fixed on hers. "Miss Zhen, I'm Fu Mingshi. My grandfather and your grandfather were comrades-in-arms in the same platoon during the War of Resistance. I have come to visit your family this time as entrusted by him to call on the descendants of his fellow soldier."

But as soon as Zhen Bao saw him take off his sunglasses, she was dumbstruck!

Old Lady Zhang next door had a small black-and-white TV. Zhen Bao had seen the big stars on TV, but compared to the man before her now, those stars really seemed to turn black-and-white. Only this Mr. Fu was in color, even though he wore an all-black suit. His whole body was black except for his red lips...

Ever since elementary school, Fu Mingshi had always been popular among girls. After taking over the conglomerate, even more women were attracted to his face. So he was not the least surprised by Zhen Bao's astonishment, and waited calmly for her to regain her composure.

Her calf was nudged by Hei Dan, and Zhen Bao felt itchy. Only when she lowered her head did she see that the man still had his hand outstretched. She immediately blushed and hurriedly shook his hand. The man's palm was warm, but as soon as it touched Zhen Bao's hand he jerked it back as if shocked, and put it behind him, wiggling his fingers. She was not shy around strangers, but was not used to physical contact with men.

Wait... what did he say earlier?

Expecting that she had not heard clearly, Fu Mingshi repeated what he had said, his voice low and clear, extremely patient.

Zhen Bao suddenly understood. So it turned out he was her grandfather's comrade-in-arms. When she was little, Granny often told her stories about when Grandpa was a soldier, and said he had been a platoon leader. If not for his early sacrifice, he surely would have become a high official.

"Thank you for his kind recollection of us. And thank you President Fu for taking the trouble to travel all this way. It must have been a long ride?" Thinking of her grandfather, Zhen Bao felt quite emotional. Since he was an old acquaintance, she also suddenly felt a faint sense of kinship with Fu Mingshi, and their conversation became natural.

"It was fine," Fu Mingshi said, not mentioning his own hardship. Looking at Zhen Bao, he got straight to the point, "Miss Zhen, there is another thing I must tell you." He calmly explained the situation of the two old men arranging this childhood betrothal, including Old Master Fu having liver cancer and hoping for their two grandchildren to marry.

Zhen Bao listened in puzzlement, taking a long time to point at Fu Mingshi and herself in disbelief. "The elders..."

What era was this? There was still such a thing as a childhood betrothal?

"Since we are meeting for the first time, I know this marriage will put Miss Zhen in a difficult position. But Old Master is suffering from liver cancer and needs to relax for treatment. So I sincerely ask Miss Zhen to do me a favor and pretend to be my wife for a period of time. After Old Master's health improves, or he... passes on, I will divorce you and give you your freedom back."

Fu Mingshi's tone was steady, as if discussing business. He then took out a prenuptial agreement from his briefcase and handed it to Zhen Bao, "Here is a prenuptial agreement for you to look through first. Feel free to ask me if you don't understand anything."

It was a prenuptial agreement, and also an employment contract. Her only duty was to act as his wife. Afterwards, he would give Zhen Bao a generous amount of assets as compensation for her lost youth. During the marriage, he would also not force her to fulfill the duties of a wife. The two of them would each mind their own business, with no interference from each other.

Zhen Bao was considered the village beauty by all the neighbors, and was also the class flower and school flower at school.

Zhen Bao felt that she didn't deserve such an honor, but she knew that she did look quite good. When she was in elementary school it was fine, but when she entered middle school and high school, boys would often write her love letters. The students' courtship methods were quite civilized, but Zhen Bao had also encountered some shifty characters from society who specifically targeted innocent students, and was even eyed by people suspected of being human traffickers.

After encountering so many bizarre incidents, Zhen Bao gradually became more vigilant, although she had dropped out due to lack of money and was living a carefree life in her hometown, Zhen Bao was still on guard.

When Fu Mingshi said that their grandfathers were war buddies, she believed him and was willing to treat him as a friend and host him, but when Fu Mingshi said that his grandfather had liver cancer, and brought up their childhood betrothal, wanting to trick her into marrying him, if Zhen Bao believed him again, she would be a fool. Who knows if he was just another advanced human trafficker? If she blindly went along with him to get a marriage certificate, she might never be able to break free from his control afterwards.

His suit and leather shoes looked quite expensive, but they could also be a deliberate prop by a scammer pretending to be a wealthy man.

Harboring suspicions in her heart, Zhen Bao did not show it on her face. She scratched her head with a conflicted look and said, "This... I feel very sympathetic about your grandfather's illness, it's just that childhood betrothals are feudal dregs. Fu always looks very well-educated... Anyway, you should just go back and try to persuade your grandfather again."

"I've tried persuading him already, but the old man is stubborn and insists on fulfilling the promise from back then." Fu Mingshi had already anticipated that Zhen Bao would not immediately agree to this preposterous request. The prenuptial agreement was for his own consideration, but also for Zhen Bao's sake, so she wouldn't worry about him taking advantage of her. "Ms. Zhen, I can pay you a deposit first, 100 million, I hope you can help me out this once."