[Foster Care / Pseudo Uncle and Niece / A Guiding Lover]
At sixteen, Cheng Wan was adopted by the Lin family. That was when she first met her young uncle, Lin Xubai, who sat in a wheelchair.
He was gentle yet distant. The thing he said to her most often was: “Study hard.”
The secrets of youth need somewhere to go. She had a pen pal she'd known for years, who stayed by her through the unease of living under someone else's roof, the confusion of adolescence, and all the feelings she couldn't put into words.
Again and again, she asked him, “When can we meet?”
But he always replied with the same words: “The time isn't right yet.”
Then, one rainy night, she accidentally discovered that the handwriting on the documents Lin Xubai reviewed was identical to the writing on the letters she treasured.
She began to suspect, to test him, and even to try to catch a flash of panic in his usually perfect composure.
“Why did you lie to me?”
“You're still young. You can't tell dependence from love.”
Cheng Wan decided to prove she had grown up.
She accepted a date with an upperclassman, gave him her first kiss under the moonlight, then deliberately let Lin Xubai see.
That night, the usually composed man trapped her against him, his breath scorching.
“Wanwan, do you really have to push me this far?”
Only later did Cheng Wan understand that he hadn't stayed away because he didn't love her, but because he loved her too much.
He loved her so much he couldn't bear to waste her youth by claiming the role of her elder, yet he was so possessive that he couldn't stand the thought of her belonging to anyone else.
Love is restraint, and courage.
One-on-one romance, eight-year age gap, both leads are each other's first and only.
The heroine grows from dependence to independence.
2025.12.28
Theme: Love is restraint, and courage.
