Years Like Pinellia

[Sweet romance + devoted couple + showbiz + fashion industry + substitute + wife-chasing regret]

If you've figured out that she's the girl you love, then of course you should be the one to spoil her. So... spoil her rotten.

Ou Yu never imagined that the man she'd had a crush on since she was seventeen had gone to such lengths to get close to her only so he could make her a substitute for his older sister.

She'd treasured her love for him, all the more carefully because of the gulf between them. Just when everything seemed about to work out, her dream shattered overnight. She had no choice but to run away.

Shangguan Ruoying couldn't understand it. He'd carefully plotted every step to force her to stay, all to hold on to the last trace of his sister. But without realizing when it happened, he'd fallen in love with this steadfast, innocent girl, his feelings restrained and conflicted. Only after she left for good did he finally understand: she was simply herself. She had never been anyone's substitute.

“After everything you've done, what is it you want?”

“Marry me, Xiao Yu.”

“Who have you been looking at through my eyes all this time?”

“You. It's always been you, no one else. I love you.”

There's a significant age gap between the leads. The female lead grows over the course of the story, while the male lead is a domineering CEO and top student, not an older uncle type.

The opening was written way back in 2009, so the pacing is slow at first. It picks up later.