Please Go Long on Me!

Independent Investor × Rising Star in Aerospace

The heroine brings the funding; the hero is prickly on the outside, soft-hearted underneath

Devoted love · Rekindled romance · Mature adults caught in a push and pull

On New Year's Eve, Ruan Jin, unemployed for three months, received a WeChat message from her ex-boyfriend, Zhou Xushen: "What do you want to do on the first day of the new year?"

Stir-crazy from the stock market being closed, she sleepily tapped out three words: "I want to trade stocks."

She tossed her phone aside and went right back to sleep.

Across the city, Zhou Xushen stared at the screen, his ears suddenly burning red.

He remembered their last class reunion, when she'd been drunk and hooked a finger in his belt, mumbling a compliment about his "studly waist." He shot to his feet and, under the astonished stares around the table, rasped out a hasty farewell.

At three in the morning, Ruan Jin was woken by an insistent pounding at the door.

Zhou Xushen stood outside, breathing heavily. The suit he wore still held the chill of New Year's Eve, and a dark fire was surging in his eyes, beyond her understanding.

"Weren't you away on a business trip for a week?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "How did you get back so soon?"

"Didn't you say," he pressed a step closer, "that on the first day of the new year, you wanted to..."

He couldn't bring himself to say those two words.

Ruan Jin fumbled for her phone, bewildered.

Seeing the racy phrase her keyboard had filled in from its saved suggestions, she rubbed her ear.

It was all because she'd had too much free time lately and read too many steamy novels.

The air froze.

Then, the next second, Ruan Jin suddenly laughed.

She hooked a finger through the man's loosened tie and pulled him into the dimly lit entryway.

"Zhou Xushen," she rose on her tiptoes, her breath brushing his Adam's apple, "are you planning to make a short-term trade in this stock of yours, or hold it for the long term?"

His gaze darkened.

His scorching palm clasped the hand hooked through his tie and slowly pressed it against his chest.

Through his shirt, she could feel his heart racing out of control.

"Go long on me."

He lowered his head and kissed her, pleading hoarsely:

"Lock me in for life."

Reading notes:

1. Both leads are sexually inexperienced and devoted only to each other. No romantic relationships during their five years apart.

2. The heroine is a stock-trading genius: smart, rebellious, aloof, proud, and always thinking in terms of the market.

3. The hero is prickly on the outside but soft-hearted underneath. He has said plenty of cruel things, but he's done plenty for love of her, too.

4. Mature adults, an intense push and pull, and off-the-charts sexual tension.

5. He never truly left; she finally came back. Happy ending.

"Go long" is a stock-market term meaning to repeatedly buy into a quality stock.

Zhou Xushen: Please bet on me. Please believe I'll rise. Please don't cut your losses.

Theme: Investing carries risks, but loving you is the surest thing I've ever done.