After the Flash Marriage, My Ex Who is a Movie Queen Keeps Flirting with Me - Chapter 1

“That’s rough, Wanyu. Getting dragged to a blind date on your first day back home,” a crisp female voice said over the phone, her tone full of sympathy for her friend’s predicament.

“Mom’s orders are hard to refuse,” Jiang Wanyu sighed helplessly as she approached a café. She glanced at the sign—The Cozy Corner—and realized she’d arrived.

“Auntie’s just worried you’ll end up alone. After seven years abroad, your Mandarin’s getting rusty. How will you find someone?” the voice on the other end teased. “She’s carefully arranged this: a petite, gentle girl-next-door type. Perfect for you!”

This wasn’t Jiang Wanyu’s first blind date. During her studies abroad, she’d been forced to endure several of these encounters each time she returned home. Exhausted by the charade but unwilling to disappoint her mother, she steeled herself and went through with it.

Unsure how to respond to her friend’s teasing, Jiang Wanyu said, “I’m here. Gotta go.”

“Bye-bye! Good luck! Bring home a pretty girl!”

The February weather was still chilly, and a layer of condensation fogged the café’s glass door. Jiang Wanyu tucked her phone away, tightened her coat, and stepped inside.

“Room 203…” She found the room number her mother had given her, knocked, and entered.

Taking a deep breath, she recited the opening line she’d rehearsed countless times: “Miss Chen, hello. I’m Jiang Wanyu. About this blind date…”

Her words caught in her throat.

It wasn’t that she’d forgotten her lines—Academic Jiang would never make such a mistake. She was simply stunned by the woman standing by the window.

Even sunglasses couldn’t conceal the woman’s striking features. Tall and slender as a bamboo stalk, her long dress accentuated her graceful figure.

Petite? Delicate beauty? Gentle sister?

The woman before her was clearly none of these.

Under normal circumstances, Jiang Wanyu would have immediately suspected she’d entered the wrong private room. But in this moment, she couldn’t care less, staring blankly at the woman, lost in a trance.

Time seemed to freeze.

Until the woman spoke, her full, rosy lips parting slightly: “What brings you here? Are you looking for me?”

Those few words sent a jolt through Jiang Wanyu’s heart.

That voice had haunted her dreams countless times.

There was no mistaking it.

The woman removed her sunglasses.

Ming Jiyue had always been breathtakingly beautiful, a fact Jiang Wanyu had recognized the moment they first met ten years ago.

With her naturally flawless bone structure and complexion, removing the sunglasses was like adding the final, defining stroke to a masterpiece. Her radiant, peach-blossom eyes became the most striking feature of her face, a pale mole at the corner of her eye adding a touch of allure.

Time seemed to have left no mark on her, only enhancing her mature charm, making her even more captivating. Even after seven years, even after seeing her face countless times on screens, witnessing her in person at such close range still sent a shock through Jiang Wanyu’s senses.

The person launching this beauty attack had long grown accustomed to her own striking appearance and remained oblivious to its effect. Her demeanor was serene as she said, “Xiao Yu, why are you standing there like a fool? Guests should sit. Come, take a seat.”

As she spoke, she swiftly typed a few words on her phone and sent them.

Her composure was so natural, even her way of addressing Jiang Wanyu was unchanged, so natural that Jiang Wanyu momentarily lost herself in a daze. For a fleeting moment, she imagined they were still in college, just after a typical class. Ming Jiyue had ordered food and was smiling, beckoning her over: “Xiao Yu, hurry up and sit down! I’m starving.”

But that illusion vanished in an instant.

The initial shock of Ming Jiyue’s beauty was quickly followed by an inexplicable panic. Jiang Wanyu turned to flee, but Ming Jiyue’s voice stopped her: “It’s been years since we’ve seen each other. Don’t rush off. Just a few minutes.”

No one could refuse when those beautiful eyes held them captive.

As Jiang Wanyu sat across from her, she felt awkward, unsure where to put her hands and feet. Ming Jiyue, however, remained composed, pouring her a cup of tea and sliding it across the table.

The moment Jiang Wanyu’s fingers brushed the teacup, she felt something soft and smooth glide across the back of her hand, like the gentle lick of a warm tongue. Her fingertips trembled, causing a few drops of the hot tea to spill onto her hand.

“How clumsy of you!”

The person across from her pulled out a tissue to help wipe up the spill, as if she hadn’t caused it. Jiang Wanyu quickly took it, saying, “I’ll do it myself.”

After refilling their teacups, Ming Jiyue broke the silence. Without hesitation, she asked directly, “Are you… here for a blind date?”

Jiang Wanyu didn’t try to hide it, simply nodding.

“Me too,” Ming Jiyue said. “Judging by how smoothly you entered, you’ve done this quite a few times, haven’t you?”

Jiang Wanyu, also weary of this, couldn’t help but let a hint of frustration slip into her voice. “My family keeps pressuring me.”

A moment of silence hung in the air. Unsure what else to say, Jiang Wanyu raised her teacup again.

She regretted letting herself be momentarily captivated by Ming Jiyue’s beauty and staying. Now, she just wanted this to end quickly.

As the tea slid down her throat, Ming Jiyue suddenly spoke, causing Jiang Wanyu to choke.

“What do you think of me?” Ming Jiyue asked.

What do you mean, “what do I think of you?”

Barely managing to stop coughing, Jiang Wanyu wondered if she had misunderstood Ming Jiyue’s meaning.

She pursed her lips and cautiously asked, “What do you mean, ‘what do I think of you’?”

Ming Jiyue replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world, leaning forward toward Jiang Wanyu. “Of course, I mean what do you think about marrying me?”

A wry smile tugged at Jiang Wanyu’s lips.

Seven years had passed, but Ming Jiyue was still the same Ming Jiyue.

Nothing had changed.

Ming Jiyue wasn’t discouraged by Jiang Wanyu’s silence and calmly explained her reasons.

“I have my reasons for saying this. It’s not just you being pressured to marry. I’m two years older, so my family’s nagging is even worse. It’s so annoying that I’m thinking of finding someone suitable and getting married quickly.”

Jiang Wanyu was surprised. “Your family pressures you too?”

“Of course they do! Why wouldn’t they?” Ming Jiyue’s eyes flickered, and she unconsciously emphasized her tone. “They’re more anxious than anyone else, terrified their daughter will never get married.”

Jiang Wanyu: “With your looks, you have nothing to worry about.”

Ming Jiyue blinked, returning the compliment. “You too. It’s the same for both of us.”

She shifted her posture, picked up her teacup, and took a sip, a hint of melancholy settling between her brows. “Actually, my main problem is that my standards are too high.”

“You know, my first love in college was too perfect. Now, after having seen the ocean, none of the twenty or thirty blind dates I’ve been on can compare to him.”

Jiang Wanyu’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she raised her teacup to hide her embarrassment.

But Ming Jiyue wasn’t about to let her off easily. “And why haven’t you found anyone you like? Is it because your first love was too perfect too?”

Jiang Wanyu remained silent. Ming Jiyue nodded sagely, “Just as I thought.”

Jiang Wanyu: ……

Having exhausted the small talk, Ming Jiyue steered the conversation back on track. “Our families are both pressuring us to get married. You clearly have no interest in marriage either. Since we know each other so well, why don’t we get a fake marriage certificate? We can each do our own thing afterward and finally get our families off our backs. What do you say?”

Jiang Wanyu maintained her composure, asking, “What’s in it for me?”

Ming Jiyue answered instantly, her tone languid, “You’d get me—beautiful, gentle, and generous. Isn’t that enough?”

After a moment’s thought, she added, “Our family is quite wealthy, as you already know.”

Jiang Wanyu: …… Such generous terms indeed.

Ming Jiyue blinked, her long, thick lashes fluttering. “So, what do you say? Strike while the iron’s hot.”

After a long silence, Jiang Wanyu finally spoke, “I’ll think about it.”

This lack of outright rejection exceeded Ming Jiyue’s expectations. Her posture visibly relaxed as she discreetly wiped the sweat from her palms with a tissue, finally letting her guard down. “No problem.”

She casually pulled out her phone. “Let’s add each other on WeChat?”

Jiang Wanyu didn’t refuse. “I’ll scan your QR code.”

She opened the WeChat scanner and held her phone out to Ming Jiyue. Before she could even see the QR code clearly, Ming Jiyue suddenly recoiled as if she’d been electrocuted. “Wrong one!”

Jiang Wanyu jumped back in surprise. “What’s wrong?”

Ming Jiyue cleared her throat, subconsciously smoothed her bangs, and gracefully extended her phone again, as if the earlier mishap had never occurred. “Nothing.”

A notification popped up, but there was no “Add to Contacts” option.

Suddenly, a message appeared at the top of the screen. Jiang Wanyu instinctively tapped it, then froze.

Yueyue: Be my wife.jpg

Jiang Wanyu stared at the meme, torn between laughter and disbelief, and looked up at Ming Jiyue.

Instead of a failed send notification, the message had gone through successfully. Ming Jiyue looked genuinely delighted. When she met Jiang Wanyu’s “What’s with the meme?” gaze, her expression turned innocent. “I just sent it randomly.”

Her tone was almost coquettish.

Jiang Wanyu: “Do you often send this kind of meme to people?”

Ming Jiyue immediately became defensive. “No! The last time I used it was seven years ago.”

Her words carried a pointed implication.

Jiang Wanyu’s fingertips trembled.

Ming Jiyue didn’t dwell on the details, a radiant smile blooming on her lips. “You didn’t delete me?”

“Could it be you couldn’t bear to?”

Jiang Wanyu was just as stunned as Ming Jiyue. After their breakup, she had assumed Ming Jiyue would have deleted her immediately. Yet “Yueyue” had remained quietly in her contact list for seven years.

As they finished chatting and stood to leave, Jiang Wanyu suddenly remembered something. “Why are you in this room?”

“Huh?” Ming Jiyue looked momentarily confused. “I booked this room. I thought you came here specifically to see me.”

Jiang Wanyu was about to press further when her phone vibrated. A message from Mother Jiang:

Oh, my brain! I got the room number wrong. It’s 205, not 203. You haven’t gone yet, have you?

Jiang Wanyu: …

Without further explanation, she replied, “Not yet.” “Sorry, I got the wrong room,” she said to Ming Jiyue.

Ming Jiyue waved her hand, her eyes curving into crescent moons. “No problem. Let’s have more ‘beautiful misunderstandings’ like this in the future.”

Before leaving, Jiang Wanyu casually asked, “What about your blind date?”

“Huh? What—” Ming Jiyue quickly stopped herself, smiling. “She had something come up last minute. Just told me.”

Jiang Wanyu didn’t dwell on it and left the room.

She went next door to complete the task Mother Jiang had assigned her, politely declined her blind date’s request to add her on WeChat, and finally left the coffee shop under his slightly disappointed gaze.

Stepping outside, Jiang Wanyu took a deep breath of the cool air, feeling a sense of relief wash over her.

Looking back on the morning’s events, she found them utterly unbelievable.

How could such a coincidence happen?

This must be fate.

On her first day back in the country, Jiang Wanyu had been sent on a blind date by her mother, only to encounter her first love, who said to her—

Let’s get married.

On the other side of town, Ming Jiyue stepped out of the coffee shop and received a phone call. “Teacher Ming, are you finished?”

“Yes, just wrapped up. I apologize, Director Wang, something came up unexpectedly. Could we reschedule?”

“No trouble at all. I’m available anytime. It all depends on your schedule, Teacher Ming.”

Director Wang chuckled heartily, his tone shifting to respectful as he continued, “Regarding the film…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll give it serious consideration,” Ming Jiyue replied, already settling into her car. She instructed the driver, “To the company.”

“Take your time, Teacher Ming,” Director Wang said, feeling half-assured by her response. Pleased, he exchanged a few more pleasantries before preparing to hang up.

At the last moment, he couldn’t resist asking, “What urgent matter came up, Teacher Ming? You seem so rushed.”

This question suited Ming Jiyue perfectly. Her eyes twinkled as she replied with a smile, “A blind date.”

“A blind date?” Director Wang’s interest was piqued, and he couldn’t help but tease, “Our Best Actress Ming needs a blind date? The line of suitors chasing you must stretch from downtown all the way to the Chaobai River! How many would pay to be with you at the snap of your fingers?”

Remembering something, his tone turned puzzled. “Didn’t you say your family doesn’t interfere, and you’re focused on your career, with no plans to marry before 35?”

Ming Jiyue’s lips curved into a smile as her slender fingers tapped rhythmically on her leg. In high spirits, she replied, “Just now, I changed my mind.”