“Give me one year of your life and I’ll give you the money you need.” Feng Mian is a normal and down to earth modern woman. She just wanted an ordinary life, an ordinary job and find an ordinary man to marry in the future. (Yes, all should be ordinary). But when family matters took a turn for the worst, she faced a huge dilemma called shortage of money. Suddenly, a contract came due to a series of coincidences. Zhang Liang was fed up with his father's (yes, father not mother) matchmaking schemes for him. He wanted to have a peaceful year because this was his chance to expand his business overseas, yet his father didn’t seem to get the message. When an ordinary fresh graduate employee in his company accidentally saw a scene, he decided to take the chance. “Since she has a normal background with nothing remarkable, nothing should go wrong, right?” Browsing through the contract, Feng Mian gritted her teeth. 'Fine. It was just one year of my life anyway. I wouldn't lose a lot.' But was it true? Or would that one year turn out to be a ride full of ups and down for both of them? ... Story set in modern era in fictional country. This story is purely fiction, any similarities with real life's event is purely coincidence. Special thanks for CatarinaM2811 for making the cover Word count: 900-1800 words/chapter Discord: https://discord.gg/pBy2wGB ... Thorough the Years' Series: 1. 1 Year of Beginning [complete] 2. 2 Years of Restarting [complete] 3. -Work in Progress- 4. -Work in Progress- 5. -Work in Progress- 6. -Work in Progress- 7. -Work in Progress- The series are all STANDALONE, meaning you don't have to read the other series in order to be able to follow this story. You can just read one and you still didn't lose anything. Each of the series have different main leads but they all happen in the same universe (and similar timeline, some are overlapping but mostly not) ... Other novels: -Flowers Bloom from Battlefield [complete] - Under the Veil of Night [complete] - 7 Path of the Lilies [on long hiatus] - Villain Lady [complete] - Science and Fantasy [complete] - Forgotten Legend of the Bloodied Flower [on going] - The Quiet Empress [on going] ... Note for those who read Sorahana's other novels: This novel took a different approach compared to my other novels because it focused heavily on romance and also in main lead's perspective. follow me on IG: @sora100518
"That's good, you should eat a lot." Zhang Yi was satisfied once the lunch was over. Feng Mian ate a lot of food, which delighted him.
On the other hand, Feng Mian could only smile bitterly. She felt that her stomach would burst if Zhang Yi asked her to eat again. It was simply too much food that he had given her so far. She wouldn't be able to eat more.
Butler Lou cleaned the table expressionlessly. Even though he knew Feng Mian's portion was usually smaller, he didn't say anything. Zhang Yi had instructed Chef Lu to prepare more food today, so he could only stay silent and do his work well. Later, he would give Feng Mian stomach medicine if she needed it.
"Have you gotten used living here?" Zhang Yi changed the conversation. He took the cup on the table elegantly and began to drink.
Feng Mian nodded. "Yes. It's nice living in this house."
"Have that brat Xiao Ai come here?"
"No, she hadn't."
Zhang Yi furrowed his brows. Zhang Ai told him before that she would come visit Zhang Liang's house soon. It seemed that she was too busy shooting for her drama to the point that she forgot her original plan.
"I want to know more about you, Feng Mian. I heard that you have been working in my son's company for a long time?" Zhang Yi nearly said his company. Even though he no longer managed that company, he would still think of it as his own company from time to time because he forgot.
Feng Mian nodded. "I used to work as an intern there. Afterwards, I continued my work as a part time employee and only a few months ago did I become a full time employee."
"But now you're not working?"
"I still work from home."
Zhang Yi frowned. There was no rule that would push her to become a housewife after marriage. He too, wouldn't really like it if Feng Mian had to become a housewife. After all, women could have careers too.
"What is that brat thinking making you work from home? Let me talk to him so that you can come to work again!"
Feng Mian smiled. "It's fine."
"No, it's not! If you let that brat do whatever he wanted, you won't have any say in this house! That's simply unacceptable!"
"I enjoyed staying at home," Feng Mian tried to reason. "Besides, I didn't really like office work, so this is good."
In the first place, the only reason she tried to find work was so that she could gain enough money to sustain her living. She didn't really care that much about her position in the company since she would only stay there until she could live on her life as an artist.
Unfortunately, she was not sure how long it would take. She needed to make her name and arts known in the artist world first and that would surely take a lot of time.
She was more of an introvert person. Back in her university days, it was Han Mei, her past best friend, who usually introduced her to many others. Han Mai was a very easy going girl and active. She had a lot of connections, built by her hobby of going to parties and so on.
But because of their fallout, Feng Mian no longer contacted anyone she knew through Han Mei. After all, they would surely side with Han Mei compared to someone whom they didn't know much. She didn't want to create trouble when her life alone was already difficult.
Because of that, she was already partially abandoning her dream because she needed a stable income to sustain her life.
Zhang Yi arched his eyebrows. "I have seen your resume. You're a good designer."
Ah, that resume.
Feng Mian felt like tearing that resume apart right now. In there, it was written that she was good with digital design, which was only partially true. The one she was truly good at would be painting on canvas with oil or acrylic paint.
"That…"
"Also, I heard from Zhang Liang that he accepted your proposal. They're going with the design you proposed for the valentine project."
Hearing that, Feng Mian's eyes widened. She recalled the proposal she made overnight with Zhang Liang's guidance and a smile formed on her lips. It was normal for a proposal to get rejected because it had happened to her so many times until she forgot how to count it. However, hearing that he accepted her proposal made her very happy.
She hadn't heard anything about it, though. Probably, he would tell it to her later.
Zhang Yi smiled when he saw Feng Mian's expression. "Going by your expression, I can say that you liked your job."
Feng Mian chuckled. "I can't say that I hate it too. But if I have to choose, I would want to become a painter instead of a designer."
"Painter?" Zhang Yi was stunned. Feng Mian's resume didn't include anything about painting.
"Yes." Feng Mian smiled bitterly. She had no idea that the mistake of trusting her friend to help her with the resume would turn this bad. She sighed internally. "I made a little mistake back when I wrote that resume. I should have added my skill in painting on canvas."
Zhang Yi looked at Feng Mian suspiciously. Her expression was certainly not normal, but if she didn't want to say much, he would not pressure her.
"In that case, can you show me your painting?"