Arranged Marriage with My Beloved Wife is NOT a good manhua. I thought it would be because it sounded a bit fluffy from the blurb, but boy was I wrong.
Blurb: She was forced to marry a crippled president for the sake of her family. Reluctant to accept the marriage at first, she kept a distance with her nominal husband. But his love and respect slowly unsealed her heart…
Why it’s so disappointing
Aight, the blurb didn’t lie. She was forced to marry him and he does treat her well and they do slowly fall in love. If that was all there was to it, I would be ecstatic. You know how rare it is to find a Chinese romance “in love with a CEO” manhua that doesn’t start with rape? Nigh impossible, that’s what. So impossible, in fact, that Arranged Marriage with My Beloved Wife isn’t one of those rare exceptions.
Indeed, the only reason why Lin Chulian has to marry Li Haonan is because her half-sister and scum fiance drug her and she ends up in his bed. So far so typical, now we know how she ended up there. But what’s HIS excuse? A woman just shows up unconscious in your bed and you don’t call the police or the doctor, instead you sleep with her? What was he even doing in her house in the first place?
The matter is never explained, so no matter how good Haonan is to her or how much they start to like each other, the issue is always there in my mind like an elephant in the room. “He’s a rapist, he’s a rapist, why isn’t she asking anything?” It’s even stranger because there were many ways to explain the incident to at least mitigate the rapeyness of it. E.g. He was very drunk and it was very dark (a.k.a. the Jacob excuse), or he was drugged with an aphrodisiac – another ridiculously common trope in Chinese manhua. It doesn’t make it any better, but at least it’s an excuse to make him seem like less of a monster.
But no, he was just randomly in her house, randomly did the deed, then decided to take responsibility… even though he’s powerful enough to wipe out the whole Lin family for tricking him. Which means they didn’t trick him and he was fully aware? Dammit Li Haonan, I’m trying to like you but you’re a rapist, dammit! It’s a shame because he’s much more decent and less abusive than some of the crazy MLs you find in other manhua. Except for, you know, the whole rapist thing. Which is really a deal breaker, seriously.
Looking on the bright side?
Okay, how about we look past that massive obstacle and focus on the rest of Arranged Marriage With My Beloved Wife? The art is pretty poor and cheaply drawn, but I’ve seen worse. The plot is junk, though. It’s yet another series where the main character has the IQ of a brick and keeps talking to and hanging out with people who clearly mean her harm.
How many times is she going to run over to her Dad’s house when she knows he clearly favors her sister? Why does she keep working with a clearly vengeful coworker who almost killed her? Why would she follow that obviously evil coworker to a hotel room without letting others know? The list of Lin Chunian’s stupidities are endless. Just when it seems like she’s starting to wise up, the manhua ends abruptly. That’s right, all that frustration and annoyance and then it ends before it gets good. =_=
The other good things about this manhua: As I said, the ML is decent apart from… you know. They have a good relationship without too much bickering or arguing. Misunderstandings are quickly resolved. At least one member of his family is decent. Li Haonan protects Lin Chulian all the time but backs off and lets her handle it when she insists. If only it wasn’t for… you know. *sigh*
Arranged Marriage with My Beloved Wife is licensed in English, so you can read it at Mangatoon, but I don’t recommend it. Not only because of the problems I’ve stated above, but also because although it says “Complete,” it’s not really complete. It just ends abruptly after 80 chapters with a bunch of unanswered questions. Unless there’s a season 2 announced, I wouldn’t waste my time. I’m really disappointed.
