The Crimson Rose Garden

Su Wan is the “Red Rose” feared throughout the business world. At twenty-eight, she runs the multinational conglomerate Blazing Flame and is known for her ruthless methods and razor-sharp eye. Her admirers are all rich and powerful, but she believes that “love is the least efficient investment.” That is, until she visits a solar power base deep in the desert and encounters a man who seems completely out of place: Lu Chen.

He is the youngest engineer at the base. His black boots are dusted with sand and the cuffs of his work jacket are frayed, yet he is crouched under the blazing sun, using a discarded solar panel to shelter an injured falcon. He doesn’t even seem to notice that the metal has cut his fingertips.

“A busted panel like that? Blazing Flame throws away a hundred a day,” Su Wan says, rolling down her car window, her tone characteristically aloof.

The man looks up. Sunlight carves the hard lines of his jaw, and his gaze burns hotter than the desert wind. “You see trash. I see a life.”

Later, she sees him spend three days and three nights in a sandstorm repairing the equipment. His lips are cracked, yet he smiles without a care in the world;