The first time Shen Yanzhou met Su Yan, he thought the man was a block of ice that could never be warmed. Su Yan would revise blueprints until the early hours without so much as a frown, spoke with a barb in every sentence, and even drank coffee as if it were just another task to complete.
The first time Su Yan met Shen Yanzhou, he decided the man was there to cause trouble. He would cruise around the construction site in a sports car, play on his phone during meetings, and know nothing when asked about project details. Yet he had the title of “investor representative” and was impossible to shake off.
The old-town redevelopment project tied together two people from entirely different worlds. Their arguments became routine, until a night of torrential rain trapped them at the site. Only then did Shen Yanzhou notice the tremor beneath Su Yan’s icy exterior, while Su Yan caught a glimpse of the exhaustion behind Shen Yanzhou’s rebellious facade.
It turned out that the ice-cold designer was hiding a past he couldn’t move beyond, while the spoiled rich heir was carrying family shackles he couldn’t cast off. When the redevelopment project unearthed old scandals, and family pressure and the shadows of the past came crashing down at once, they finally understood: through all those days of clashing head-on, they had already carved each other’s shapes into their hearts.
When the old locust tree put out new shoots, Su Yan gazed at the elderly people basking in the sun outside the window. “This place looks better than the blueprints.” Shen Yanzhou leaned in, the tip of his nose brushing Su Yan’s hair. “Because I’m here.”
(Original title: Half-Hearted and Serious)
