Crossing the Line: The Daddy-Type Big Shot Has Been Plotting This for Ages!

[Both work in the civil service + Reunited after years apart + 12-year age gap + Sweet romance, both each other’s first + Older, guiding lover] Gentle, clearheaded, ambitious newcomer vs. devoted, steady, reserved senior leader A slow-burn push and pull at first, then the old flame catches fire again. Yu Sichu was raised as the cherished darling of her family, and she has always lived brightly and openly. The greatest hurt she has ever suffered was being rejected when she confessed her feelings to Zhou Bingzhang six years ago. When they meet again, she is a newcomer whose permanent appointment is being held up, while he is a powerful newcomer whose background is shrouded in mystery. A man accustomed to pulling the strings, with unfathomable methods, gives up an easy promotion and lays down his armor, all to win her. In the eyes of outsiders, he is a reserved, self-controlled senior leader. Outside work, he has only three things on his mind: staying by her side, protecting her, and flirting with her. But she keeps firmly to the boundaries of neighbors and boss and subordinate, refusing to cross the line again. The day the truth about the past comes out, the young woman’s eyes redden with heartache. She cannot imagine how cruel it must have been for him to force himself to push her away back then. Later, when she watches him sitting ramrod straight onstage and delivering a speech, a colleague asks how she managed to win over the big boss. Yu Sichu hesitates for a moment, then arches an eyebrow. “By forcing myself on him?” Yu Sichu is the brightest light in Zhou Bingzhang’s darkest years. He has plotted his return for six years, and now he is back with a vengeance. He never intended to give her a way out.