Houhai Isn’t the Sea: My Princess of Beijing’s Elite Circle

Not a CEO power fantasy. No formulaic tropes, no brainless characters, and not a long read: just over a hundred thousand words, with a more traditional literary style. One trip through life, one spell as a drifter in Beijing, a few encounters, and a tale of spiritual passion. A tribute to Wang Shuo’s The Air Hostess. For you, who have loved sincerely. This is a story of drifting in Beijing, tracing love, sex, life and death, youth, the workplace, life, and growth. Zhao Xiaogang is a proud, chaste man who treats love as his faith. Then his first love gets married and he is transferred at work, leaving him reeling from a double blow. During an escapade to “blow through the stolen cash,” he meets Yue Yao, the intensely pragmatic “Beijing-circle” princess of Sanlitun, also known as Yellow Rose. He “loses his virginity” to her, setting off a ridiculous, absurd, yet innocent gamble on love… Told through the male lead’s perspective and inner monologue, the story follows love and career as its main and secondary threads, exploring his and the heroine’s love-hate relationship, their coming of age, and their journey toward self-redemption.