The Unfrozen Port

Staying under the same roof | An old flame rekindled | Uncle-nephew romance | Older man-younger woman | North America

Cool, aloof nerd CEO × gentle, timid girl

[The full book costs only 6.82 yuan. The entire text has been carefully edited. Pirated versions are incomplete. Thanks for supporting the official release, and please leave a five-star review!]

Pei Lin first heard the name Pei Shuyu in a report from his secretary.

His niece was coming to Wenhua to study, and her family hoped he would look after her.

It was no trouble at all, so Pei Lin arranged for his niece to stay in an empty apartment downtown.

By the time he thought of her again, several months had passed.

Out of courtesy, he finally found time to pay her a visit.

But by the flower bed downstairs, he saw a girl.

She sat quietly on a bench. A breeze lifted her long black hair, and she tucked it behind her ear with slender, pale fingers.

As if sensing him, the girl looked up at him from a distance, then lowered her head to the book in her hands.

Pei Lin watched her for a few seconds and turned toward the building. Then he heard a young man call her name.

"Shuyu."

So this was Pei Shuyu.

The young man took her hand, acting intimately with her.

Pei Lin knew him. He was the son of a business partner, a man of poor character. Pei Lin had heard the scandals.

They were a bad match. It wasn't right.

Pei Lin felt that, as her guardian, he had to intervene.

-

At nineteen, Pei Shuyu came alone to the unfamiliar city of Wenhua, where she was about to stay with her uncle.

Her mother had packed plenty of local specialties for her to give him as a thank-you gift. But the person who met her at the train station was his secretary, who said distantly,

"Mr. Pei is very busy. If you need anything, Miss Pei, you can contact me."

She lowered her eyes and obediently agreed, deciding not to bother him unless she had to.

Later, on her first date with her boyfriend, a car aggressively forced his car to a stop.

After the screech of brakes, as she was still catching her breath, a man stepped out of the car in front.

He was handsome and distinguished, his black coat neatly tailored. He lowered his head and called her by name in a deep voice:

"Pei Shuyu."

Pei Shuyu recognized him as the owner of the house, the man she was supposed to call Uncle.

This man had left her in the care of his assistant for two months without a word, yet now he was personally interfering in her first love.

Not long after they met, Pei Lin set a stack of documents in front of her and gave her a brief order:

"Break up with him."

-

After the Christmas banquet, her ex-boyfriend cornered Pei Shuyu again, grabbing her wrist and begging her to get back together.

She was disgusted, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pull free.

Suddenly, a long-fingered hand pried his grip loose and pulled her into its owner's arms, shielding her from the wind and snow.

Pei Lin protected her, his expression cold as he warned the man:

"You've already broken up. Don't let me see you harassing her again. Otherwise, I'll speak to your parents."

Her ex-boyfriend didn't dare talk back. He turned and hurried away.

Pei Shuyu huddled inside Pei Lin's coat, her cheek against his warm chest as she listened to his steady heartbeat.

After a while, Pei Lin raised a hand and tucked her slightly disheveled black hair behind her ear. In a low voice, he asked,

"Do you want him to give up for good?"

Pei Shuyu's lashes trembled.

"Or do you want to be with me?"

-

"Wenhua's ice-free harbor exists because of you."

A restrained older man × a gentle, sweet girl

29 × 19

Reader's Guide:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads have only ever been with each other.

2. The male lead is restrained and a paragon of propriety at first, then gradually gets closer to her. The female lead is very timid at first, but will grow stronger later. Please give this little rabbit some time. TT

3. The leads are not actually related. The female lead has already broken up with her boyfriend when she and the male lead begin a relationship. She held hands and hugged her ex, but nothing more intimate happened. Please don't read if this bothers you.

4. Happy ending, bittersweet and sweet, slow burn, lots of romantic tension, and a very long period of mutual pining.

5. Wenhua is a fictional city, inspired by a real place but heavily altered for the story. It does not fully correspond to any real city. Please don't nitpick the details.

6. Please don't compare rankings or plagiarize. If you steal my ideas or copy my work, you'd better know what you're doing. ^^

Theme: Seeking a sense of belonging and human meaning.