Scoundrel’s Game

Main story complete. Bonus chapters updating. The next book is Bao Yi.

I may revise the text from time to time.

Wolf-and-rabbit romance | Foster care | Reconciliation after a breakup | Five-year age gap

When she was eight, Yu Wanyi was taken in by the illustrious Yan family of the capital as the orphaned daughter of her father's comrade-in-arms.

Everyone praised her as gentle and well-mannered, a pure white camellia personally raised by the Yan family's eldest son, Yan Tingyun.

Only Yan Sui wasn't buying it.

A top ace on the F1 circuit who risked his life at every turn, he stood 190 centimeters tall. Years of intensive training had honed his lean, powerful physique. He was extraordinarily gifted, violent, and utterly unrestrained.

Yet the outside world widely believed that Second Young Master Yan was an exceedingly indulgent older brother.

After a race, a reporter asked with a smile, "For top drivers like you, who risk your lives on the track, how do you usually relieve stress?"

He looked at Yu Wanyi with a smile, his voice languid. "I go home and spend time with my family."

The whole internet praised their close sibling bond. Only Yu Wanyi went pale.

And what did spending time together mean?

Holding her down, pinning her, gripping her waist, covering her mouth so that even her sobs were swallowed.

"Shh. If you're afraid someone will hear, bite down." With the bedroom door half-closed, the man wiped away the tears at the corner of her eye, smiling with wild abandon. "Focus. Help your brother relieve some stress."

Later, she left without a word, thinking time would be enough to erase a madman's momentary whim.

*

On New Year's Eve, London was drenched in rain.

Yu Wanyi worked late into the night. Across the deserted platform, a giant electronic screen replayed the season finale. The man who had won the year's Drivers' Championship took off his helmet, his black hair damp with sweat, his eyes cold and desolate.

Even through the screen, he seemed to bristle with menace.

Her phone rang without warning.

A video.

The bedroom was dim. The camera stared silently at her sleeping figure. A faint click of a lighter came from off-screen.

It was her current home.

Yu Wanyi's blood turned cold.

Behind her, dress shoes crushed a puddle.

A black umbrella blotted out the sky. The cold metal casing of a lighter pressed against her cheek, then slid slowly downward.

"Yiyi sleeps so soundly. Your brother couldn't bear to wake you."

He laughed in a low voice beside her ear, sick with obsession.

"Hide-and-seek is over."

"You little liar who ran off without a word. Now... it's time for your punishment."

*

"Everyone says you're like a glass of plain water, Yiyi. Only I know you're wine, brewed for me alone."

"I love every tear you shed for me."

*

Both virgins, one-on-one romance, happy ending.

Foster care. The leads are not registered under the same household. There are hidden circumstances behind the events after their reunion. The leads obey the law and commit no crimes.

The story is outlined. No unsolicited writing advice, and there's no need to tell me if you drop it.

A preview of the upcoming book, Bao Yi

When Xue Baoyi was sixteen, she went with her older brother to discuss a business deal. The crabapple blossoms outside the club were in full bloom. Tired of waiting, she got into an argument with the people at the entrance. She never lost focus while arguing, but from the corner of her eye, she noticed someone watching her from behind a second-floor window for a full five minutes.

She looked up. A man lounged against the window, a cigarette between his lips. Dressed in black and tall, he had eyes like amber steeped in cold water, shadowed beneath his brow and almost smiling.

She forgot what she was saying.

The man came downstairs and took her face in his hands, examining it from side to side. Her palm-sized oval face was squeezed out of shape, her lips puckering like a goldfish blowing bubbles.

He laughed and patted her head. "Quite feisty."

The pat left her dazed. By the time she came to, he was gone. Crabapple petals covered her shoulders.

Afterward, Xue Baoyi asked everyone who that man was.

Not a single person had a good thing to say.

They said he was arrogant and impossible to talk to, that he had risen to fame young and wielded a heavy hand. Anything he agreed to do, he could get done, and when he turned on someone, nobody could protect them. They said no one knew where the silver ring on his left ring finger had come from. When asked, he would smile and say, "I'm married."

No one dared ask again.

Her brother warned her: Don't cause trouble. Stay away from him.

At the time, Xue Baoyi thought, Who says I want to stay away?

*

Later, her brother's business ran into trouble. The whole enterprise collapsed, and the family moved south overnight.

Rumors spread everywhere. They said the woman Mr. Jiang was keeping was the younger sister of the Xue family's eldest son, and now that the Xue family was in trouble, everyone had scattered.

Someone asked Jiang Yanqing to his face, "I heard you and the Xue family's young lady..."

He didn't get to finish. Jiang Yanqing merely curled his lips and glanced over, and the man's hand slipped from his shoulder. He sobered up considerably.

When he got home that day, it was one in the morning. Xue Baoyi had cried herself out and fallen asleep curled up on the sofa, tear tracks still on her face. Her hand was still clutching a corner of his coat.

He knelt on one knee in front of the sofa and bent down.

His palm rested on her flat stomach. Something was quietly happening there, something she didn't know about yet.

He kissed that expanse of snowy skin and laughed softly in the dark.

He should have taken her away when she was very little.

Kept her in the pocket of his coat, beside his heart, her body warm at 36.7 degrees.

He would have fed her with his own hands, taught her to speak with his own hands, raised her inch by inch with his own hands.

Then every inch of her would belong to him.

Her tears were his, her laughter was his, and the one in her belly was his, too.

No one could take them from him.

Theme: Love and freedom