[Cold, desireless powerhouse and top-tier nobleman vs. sensitive, tearful wicked rose] [Long-planned pursuit + Age gap + Slow-burn romance + One-on-one, mutual firsts]
The first time Yu Nian was treated as a sacrificial offering at a drinking party, she realized that beauty without an edge was a disaster.
To escape that fate, she began picking out “prey” for herself, searching for the strongest protection she could find.
Pei Yuan hadn't been on her list, but the moment he appeared, his presence eclipsed everything: dangerous, yet impossible to look away from.
There was the “Little Mushroom Brother” she kept hidden in her heart like a red cinnabar mole, and a circle of devoted admirers around her, each more considerate than the last.
She blinked her clear eyes, neither rejecting nor accepting them, and taking responsibility for none.
“What is love?”
“If there are three thousand streams, why can I only drink from one?”
“It's not that I don't want to love. I just… really don't know how.”
She put down her phone and smiled coldly. A wicked woman's creed was to enjoy being pursued while shamelessly refusing to take responsibility.
Until a shadow fell over her. The man pinned her against the wall, eyes red, the fingertips gripping her chin scorching hot. He gave a furious laugh. “Incapable of love? Three thousand streams? Don't know how to love?”
Anger churned in his eyes, mingling with a breathless intensity that made her panic. “Then who was it that cried and said, ‘I love no one but you’?”
Her disguise shattered at once.
When he aggressively pressed against her, she finally panicked. Putting on her usual sweet, fragile voice, she begged through her tears, “I was wrong… I only love you. The others were just for show…”
He sneered, showing no mercy as he pierced through her lies, his burning breath branding her ear. “After smelling so many wildflowers, have you forgotten…”
“Just how fragrant a homegrown flower can be?”
