Lowly and Inferior

Hey, darlings, please give me a little love and add this to your library~

Bittersweet romance | Intense push and pull | The one who dumped her comes crawling back

Early on: aloof top student × gorgeous, flirtatious school belle

Later: possessive, paranoid big shot in a suit who’s a thug at heart × seductive beauty with a sharp tongue, a soft heart, and big ambitions

Blurb:

How would you describe Xu You’en’s madness? Maybe the way she pressed a shard of glass to her own throat to scare someone else.

And how would you describe Tan Yuli’s madness? Maybe the way he’d stop at nothing to get Xu You’en, the lying little minx.

Tan Yuli, from Class 1, Grade 11 at Nanshan High School, was handsome, rich, and brilliant.

Xu You’en wanted him.

And so they became more than friends, but less than lovers.

The weather was sweltering, and a standing fan whirred away in the Xianhe shop. Xu You’en teased him, “You’re so tiny?”

On a dark autumn night, they ate noodles softened in their cups at a wooden table, seated on two wooden chairs.

On a bustling street, Tan Yuli took Xu You’en for a ride in his sports car.

In a dim stairwell, Tan Yuli rested his head on Xu You’en’s shoulder and kissed her when she wasn’t looking.

Xu You’en wanted to enter the entertainment industry, so Tan Yuli made her a red-hot star. Giant posters of her were everywhere in public, and she spent several months on a 3D naked-eye screen in the city center that cost sixty thousand a minute.

Xu You’en was beautiful and flamboyant, with no fault anyone could find.

Like a mandrake flower, beautiful on the outside, deadly poisonous underneath.

Netizens called her a star destined for greatness.

But her star soon fell.

*

August in the capital was rainy, damp, and hot. Traffic streamed by as Xu You’en stood by the road smoking, waiting for a taxi.

After all these years, her life was still a complete mess, sinking deeper into the mire.

Then a black car pulled up and its window rolled down. A familiar face appeared before her. The man stared at her with a fierce, hateful gaze.

Xu You’en realized: He was back.

One night, Tan Yuli pinned Xu You’en against a wall and squeezed her cheeks, speaking slowly, one word at a time. “Did you have fun treating me like a dog back then?”

Xu You’en tugged at the corner of her mouth. “What, are you going to get revenge on me?”

Tan Yuli sneered. “You’re already in such a sorry state. Do I really need to take revenge on you?”

“Xu You’en, you trample on other people’s sincere feelings. You’ll never get what you want.”

Later, Xu You’en learned what it meant to “never get what you want.”

For Xu You’en, the thing she regretted most in her life was getting involved with a man who was wild and vicious to the bone.

He was good at acting, and even better at psychological manipulation. He could make sure you’d never be able to leave him.

He was always pretending to be devoted. “You’en, if you want to leave, then take me with you.”

The truth was, they were alike: cruel, despicable, morally bankrupt, and fond of manipulating others like toys. In the end, they would look down from on high and declare, “I won.”

My misfortune is

that I love you

more fiercely than life itself

The Red and the Black

[Reading Guide]

* This is entirely fictional. Do not relate it to real life!!!! Do not relate it to real life!!!!

* Two mad people falling in love. Read on if you’re okay with that. Both leads suffer from family issues, and the story spans their school years and adult lives in the city.

* Both leads are each other’s first and only, happy ending.

* They truly hate each other, and truly love each other. Hate lasts longer than love, but there’s a little more love than hate.

* The leads aren’t perfect; they both have flaws!

* They both suffer, so don’t call it mistreatment of either the woman or the man.

* There will be a little entertainment-industry plot, but very little.

* This is written to indulge my personal tastes. Please don’t send unsolicited writing advice.

* I’m bad at writing blurbs, but the story itself is great!

Theme: Live well, and make the most of life.