A Dampening Heartbeat

Completed historical romance: My Sickly Husband Is a Black-Bellied Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. Upcoming contemporary romance: Fatal Attraction.

A misanthropic woman with an eating disorder and psychological issues x a gentle, nurturing psychology professor

Slow-burn daily life | Dysfunctional family | Healing and salvation | Cat dad | Older man, nine-year age gap

Xu Mian thinks she might be sick. She can't eat, and she can't sleep.

Beneath the scorching, sticky sun, she feels cold and numb all over, with no energy to do anything.

Laughter and cheerful voices pass by her ears, but all she can hear is the shrill cries of stray cats scavenging in a pile of rotting garbage on the street.

She squats in a corner, quietly watching a cat lying dead and alone in the shadows. Its pupils are unfocused, its body reeks of a suffocating stench, and flies swarm over it, laying their eggs without restraint.

People come and go, and no one cares. Just like her, a lonely ghost adrift outside the world.

She thinks that even if she left, no one would know or care.

*

Wen Qianren comes from a wealthy family and owns two major enterprises: a pharmaceutical group and several hospitals. He is a true-blue young master.

Yet he is refined and disciplined, gentle and kind, and an excellent cook. He is a renowned psychology professor at Jin University, beloved by his students.

He also works as a psychiatrist in the psychology department at Jin University Hospital.

Though he seems gentle, deep down he is distant and aloof, keeping everyone at arm's length.

But nobody knows that he has always wanted to raise a cat.

A cat that needs him to care for it, do everything himself, and has no ability to look after itself at all.

Later, he meets one, and the urge to take her in gnaws at him.

When he meets her enormous, deep-brown, catlike eyes, he falls for her.

Xu Mian was born to be cared for by him, a cat for him to cherish and keep close to his heart.

*

This young master has a good family background and excellent character, yet no one has ever heard of him having a girlfriend in all these years.

Countless people go to great lengths to get close to him.

But at a group press conference, he faces the cameras and announces when he and his wife will be married.

In an instant, the school, the media, and the internet explode. Everyone is frantically asking who managed to win the heart of this young master from a prominent family, who had been single for years.

*

The day he meets her is a Saturday. The weather is gloomy and dim, and rain is threatening to fall.

The petite girl is crouching in an alley, feeding a cat. The sensitive, timid stray is startled and its sharp claws slash a long bloody gash across the back of her thin, bony hand.

The rain washes away the bright red blood, which slowly gathers into a puddle on the ground.

She pauses, seemingly unable to feel a thing, then slowly gets up. She leaves her umbrella by the cat shelter under the eaves, cleans up, puts out cat food and fresh water, and walks away on her own.

Wen Qianren frowns as he watches her slender, frail figure, lonely and gloomy.

She walks through the rain, one step faltering after another, with nowhere to go. Soaked through, she looks like a lost little cat.

A subtle, complicated feeling wells up in his heart, bringing with it an impulse he can't control.

*

On that damp, rainy day, he gazes at her slender figure. Raindrops patter down, keeping time with his racing heart.

[Reader Notice]

1. Both leads are each other's first and only | Healing, sweet romance | Happy ending

2. The female lead isn't meek; she's rather sharp-tongued.

3. The female lead is 20, and the male lead is 29.

4. The female lead's feelings for the male lead are a mix of admiration and love.

5. Many details are fictionalized, so please don't scrutinize them.

2026.6.21

[Next Book] Fatal Attraction

Cold, selfish, wicked heiress x gloomy, insecure stray puppy

[Rebirth + Both Leads Are Each Other's First and Only + Nurturing + Light Salvation + Unrequited Love Comes True + Dark Themes]

A dog with a home isn't a stray, but a dog that bites its owner isn't a good dog.

During an earthquake, Wen Yulan watches rebar pierce his chest. His warm blood drips onto her face, and amid his indistinct words, she hears the crippled man confess his love for her.

When she opens her eyes again, she's back at eighteen. She grits her teeth.

How dare this filthy stray dog from the garbage heap ever think he could have her?!

Forget it. He died so horribly saving her, so she'll be a little nicer to him.

A fight breaks out in a dim old alley, accompanied by shouts and curses. Then a sharp reprimand rings out, and the attackers stop and turn to look.

A girl stands at the alley entrance. The bright sunlight gives her a golden halo as she stands with the light behind her. The fine down on her delicate, indifferent face is clearly visible.

She frowns, carries herself with an air of arrogance and authority, and repeats:

"I said that's enough. You can stop now."

The attackers recognize her as the daughter of the chairman of Nancheng No. 1 High School, the heiress of Nancheng.

Their expressions turn ingratiating. They say a few flattering words, then spit a curse at the person on the ground: "You're lucky this time."

The boy lies battered and humiliated in the garbage. He can't hear or see their abuse. Through his blood-blurred vision, all he sees is the girl in her school uniform.

Her clothes are always neat and clean, as if someone has carefully ironed them. She always carries herself like the high-and-mighty heiress she is.

His clothes, worn year after year, have faded yellow. His school uniform shirt is covered in wrinkles, and there's an ugly cigarette burn scar on his arm.

Every time she catches him at his most wretched and disgusting, he thinks fate is tormenting him again and again.

Yet the moment their eyes meet, he decides it must be a gift.

He sees something different in the eyes of this cold, haughty heiress.

So, one evening after years of watching her life from afar, Jiang Huan willingly gives up the life he considers most worthless for her.

[Reader Notice]

1. The female lead is a wealthy heiress from beginning to end. She has psychological issues, is a good girl in front of her parents, and a little devil to everyone else.

2. The male lead: a gambling father, a mother who ran away, and him, gloomy and broken.

Theme: Cherish life