Caged Cicada

The novel in this column is complete: "Hong Kong Island Is Not Snow"

/ Adopted daughter of the Cen family x behind-the-scenes power player in Hong Kong

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Eight-year age gap / Clear-headed, ambitious young lady x restrained, cold-hearted man in power

Family venture capital / VC x secretary-general

Zhong Jinbei knows perfectly well she has ulterior motives, yet he still falls for her.

What will happen?

Two powerful leads / A battle of ambition and desire / Intense push and pull / Fake step-siblings

His surname is Zhong, the Zhong of a family with a long history of wealth and prestige.

She has the same surname. She can stand at his side, but she is the kind of woman he cannot marry.

Winter in the capital is very dry.

When snow falls over Shichahai, it makes no sound.

Some people have seen her at card games or private banquets in old courtyard houses.

Black coat, shoulder-length hair.

She stands among the crowd without saying a word.

The light falls on her, and her shadow is faint.

In the north, the name on her student ID is Zhong Wenting.

In the humid southern rain, she is called Lin Wenwen.

And on the documents that must not be seen, she has yet another surname.

Only after she leaves through the door do the people at the table dare to truly let loose.

There has long been a rumor in their circle.

She is a young woman Zhong Jinbei has kept in the south for many years.

Not tall, not talkative, as cool and distant as a sheet of paper that will not absorb ink.

Some say she was sent away.

Others say she came back to follow a path already laid out for her.

And at the end of that path is the marriage she chose.

She could have refused to go, as long as she was willing to stay by his side.

But this is where the story begins.

And more or less where it ends, too.

So she returns to the capital for an arranged marriage, and the story begins in a prologue.

A Guide to This Novel:

Looking back many years later, that conversation was actually very brief.

She always remembered that when Zhong Jinbei spoke, his voice was steady.

He stood among the crowd and said calmly, "In a place like this, unless you raise your value to the highest level, you won't be able to stand your ground. Without leverage that makes people wary, marrying into that family would just mean dying a different way."

He said sending her away was his way of securing a lifeline for her.

She listened. She understood every word, but her breathing slowed for a moment.

He reached out naturally and rested his hand behind her neck, as if to soothe her.

He helped her to her feet.

The others laughed and said he doted on his little sister.

He replied coolly, "She's family. Of course I have to look after her."

Love means lifting someone up. What he couldn't give her, he gave by sending her away.

He pushed her to a place high enough and far enough away.

So far that he could never turn back.

He raised her and cherished her, which was why he would not marry her.

[But once a cicada leaves its shell, there is no summer to return to.]

Reading Guide:

#Character dynamic: a cage and a cicada.

Who traps whom, who consumes whom? No one can say.

The hero's perspective on their relationship is: For you, I will give up eternal life.

The leads are equals in power.

It's simply that this book begins with the heroine.

(So I'm not very good at writing a blurb from the hero's perspective. I used Zhong Jinbei's part for the opening.)

(He has always stood above, watching others rise and fall.)

(This is a Mobius strip story. The first few chapters are setup.)

Reading and Interpretation:

The characters are not idealized or perfect.

The plot is entirely fictional and deliberately dramatic. Please don't imitate it.

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Coming soon in this column

[Clear-headed female college student vs. playboy from Hong Kong's elite circle]

The charity gala at the Magnificent Hotel was the first time Bo Ling met Li Wei.

He gently looked after the woman at his side. His manners were impeccable, and he was charming and affectionate, the very model of an elegant young gentleman from high society.

The second time: they met at an art exhibition.

Rumors swirled all around them. Everyone said Li Wei had gone to great lengths to organize the elegant exhibition for the woman he loved. They all assumed that the woman featured in the exhibition was his cherished girlfriend.

The third time: they met at the University of Hong Kong.

After the school year began in September.

At the scholarship award ceremony, she saw Li Wei again.

He was there representing the Li family.

The playboy from Hong Kong's elite circle, in everyone's eyes, was still lazy and casual. He sat below the stage through a talk and barely left an impression.

That is, until someone mentioned the art exhibition and jokingly asked if he'd arranged it for the woman he loved.

He simply denied it in a calm voice.

The person who organized the exhibition had nothing to do with romance.

One sentence overturned every rumor.

------Three encounters, peeling back the layers one by one.

Bo Ling watched coldly, understanding everything.

The playboy before her, carefree, unrestrained, and seemingly unattached, actually had his weaknesses plain to see and was very easy to get close to.

He fell in love too easily, and was even easier to lure in.

Reading Guide:

Neither lead is virtuous | A love full of hatred and longing

Theme: Dedicated to the north