The First Heartbeat: The Mad Young Uncle Whispers Softly in Her Ear

[Mad Male Lead, Coercive Love, Wealthy Families, Sweet Romance, Two Strong Leads, Intense Push and Pull, Alluring Beauty, Healing]

Everyone in Beijing’s elite circles knows that Su Qingwu is Wen Jingran’s cherished little fiancée, gentle and compliant, unable to walk steadily without someone by her side.

But Lu Yanci knew what she was like at fifteen. He was curled up, covered in blood, in a greenhouse behind the hill. She crouched down, broke a piece of chocolate in half, and wiped the dirt from his face with her school uniform sleeve. He clutched that half piece of chocolate and survived for another ten years.

Ten years later, she has her arm linked through his nephew’s and softly calls him “Uncle.” Standing in the shadows, he crushes a bone china cup in his grip. Blood runs down from his cuff.

At Yao Ruowei’s birthday party, a storm traps them on the rooftop terrace. He pushes open the door and corners her between the railing and himself. Rain runs down her white dress. He leans over, lips brushing her rain-soaked ear, his voice hoarse as though sandpaper were scraping bone. “Su Qingwu, when you lean on him and smile, do you know how much it hurts all the way down to my marrow?”

Trembling with panic, eyes red, she cries, “Uncle, let me go.” He doesn’t. His thumb brushes the pulsing vein at her neck, and he gives a low, husky laugh. “Your heart’s beating so fast. Are you afraid of me, or afraid he’ll find out?”

He uses his title of “uncle” to justify every kind of madness: coaxing her softly in the villa late at night, keeping her isolated and all to himself on a remote island overseas. When his family pressures her and the whole internet insults her, he turns his back and shields her from every accusation.

In an overseas warehouse, the instant a steel pipe comes crashing down, he throws himself over her. His back is a bloody mess, but his arms remain locked around her waist. Her skirt is soaked in his blood. With his forehead pressed against hers, slick with sweat, he calls out faintly:

“Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”