Borrowed Tenderness

A girl starved of love x a mature woman

1.

As blood splatters, a hand reaches from behind and covers Sang Nuan's eyes.

The hand is trembling badly, but it doesn't loosen its grip at all.

The person lying in the pool of blood is Sang Nuan's best friend, Liang Jiaqi.

And the person standing behind Sang Nuan is Liang Jiaqi's mother, Liang Zongyu.

2.

The night Sang Nuan comes down with a fever, Liang Zongyu sits by her bed all night, changing the wet towel again and again.

When morning comes, Sang Nuan wakes to find Liang Zongyu asleep against the headboard, one hand still resting on her forehead.

Sang Nuan doesn't move. She just watches her for a long time.

3.

After school on a rainy day, Liang Zongyu's car is parked outside the school gates.

Sang Nuan runs over. Liang Zongyu gets out with an umbrella and hands her a hot milk tea.

"Are you cold?"

Sang Nuan shakes her head, holding the milk tea as Liang Zongyu's slender fingers wrap around the back of her hand, slowly warming it.

4.

One night, unable to sleep, Sang Nuan goes out to the balcony for some air and sees Liang Zongyu standing there smoking. The end of the cigarette glows in the dark, brightening and dimming.

When Liang Zongyu sees Sang Nuan, she stubs out the cigarette.

"Aunt Liang."

The wind is a little chilly. Liang Zongyu suddenly smiles gently at Sang Nuan.

"Come here, sweetheart." She opens her arms, her voice as soft as if she were soothing a child who hadn't yet grown up. "Give me a hug. I'm so cold."

That is what Liang Zongyu calls Liang Jiaqi.

But Sang Nuan still walks over, willingly stepping into an embrace that was never meant for her.

Reader's Guide:

1. Twenty-six-year age gap, one-on-one romance, happy ending. The romance begins when the younger lead is an adult.

2. Liang's daughter was conceived through IVF and is her biological child.

Theme: Believe in love