Moon Beneath the Eaves

[My next novel is In the Paranoid Puberty Years, about a twisted childhood friend who takes what he wants by force. If you're interested, please add it to your reading list!] Everyone in their circle knew that Meng Shuyi's father had saved Xie Mingyuan's parents' lives. So after Meng's father passed away, the Xie family took Meng Shuyi in and raised her as their own daughter. Some people who disliked her sniped, "Mr. and Mrs. Xie are so good to her. She'd better not use that favor to get something out of them later." After all, the debt of a life saved was so great that even if Meng Shuyi really asked them to make Xie Mingyuan marry her, his parents wouldn't refuse. Their friends knew Xie Mingyuan wasn't into someone like Meng Shuyi. He knew she'd had a crush on him for three years, but never gave her the slightest encouragement. Whenever anyone asked, he would merely say he had always treated her like a younger sister. Everyone thought Meng Shuyi's unrequited love would eventually fade away. No one expected Xie Mingyuan to be the one who would use that favor to get what he wanted someday. - When they were young, Meng Shuyi had felt a brief flutter for Xie Mingyuan. But when she learned that he saw her only as a younger sister, she let go of that hope. When it came to love, she never pursued what wasn't freely given. Later, Xie Mingyuan went to the United States to study. They were apart for ten years, and Meng Shuyi gradually got used to life without him. Then, at 27, Xie Mingyuan returned to China. The boy who'd once been as graceful as a breeze through pines and clear as moonlight had grown into a mature, charming man. Around that time, the Xie parents were arranging blind dates for Meng Shuyi. With Xie Mingyuan back, they asked him to join in and help his little sister assess the candidates. Unfortunately, he was even pickier than Meng Shuyi. Either he thought the man wasn't good-looking enough, or he thought his family background wasn't good enough. He even came up with excuses like their birth charts being incompatible. Xie Mingyuan's father snapped, "I told you to find someone for Shuyi, not for yourself. And now you're talking about incompatible birth charts? Have you forgotten everything you learned?" "I know," Xie Mingyuan said, loosening his tie. He looked at Meng Shuyi's face gradually turning pale in the rearview mirror and said each word distinctly. "No matter how I look at it, none of these men measure up to me. I'm a better match for Shuyi." A level-headed heroine who takes life as it comes x an arrogant young master in public, but a twisted hero who takes what he wants by force in private Boarding-school setting Everyone thinks she's the one with a crush, but it's actually him Both are sexually inexperienced Blurb dated June 20, 2026 Theme: Love life and live it to the fullest