[Tang Xiaoyi] Lightning and Peach Blossoms

* The original story was called "Leaves Touching Shi," but since I don't know how to write it for now, I've shelved it and replaced it with this story, "Lightning Peach Blossom." - Couple: A younger man who's a B-king on the surface but pure-hearted underneath x an older woman who's a wage slave on the surface and, in fact, a wage slave through and through (Tang Xiaoyi x original female lead, Ruan Shiling Shu) Recommended BGM: "Balloon in Love" by Sunmi - After years working at Ghost Shadow Maze, Ruan Shiling Shu has become a fully fledged wage slave: mature and steady, a reliable presence in the eyes of her colleagues and juniors. She admits that by conventional standards, she isn't exactly a good person. After all, her work consists entirely of schemes and deals that violate the law or ethics. Much of the time, all she has to do is sign her name or tick a box to determine the futures, and even the lives, of several strangers. That's hardly what a "good person" would do, but Ruan Shiling Shu has decided that if she's being paid for this job, then she should do it, and not think about anything else. If asked to name the toughest opponent she's faced at work over her twenty-odd years of life, Ruan Shiling Shu would have an answer right away: of course, it's Tang Xiaoyi of the Adventure Association in the neighboring world. No matter what plans and arrangements she makes, he always seems able to counter them, rescuing his targets from Ghost Shadow Maze's grasp time and time again. In return, Ruan Shiling Shu is more than happy to trip Tang Xiaoyi up in other ways. She's always believed that returning favors is one of the few virtues she has. Until one day, an obituary was sent from the Adventure Association's office to Ghost Shadow Maze's office, and Ruan Shiling Shu learned that Tang Xiaoyi was dead. Was she sad? She did have a rather deep "relationship" with Tang Xiaoyi: if the eagerness to face a worthy opponent and the frustration of having her plans repeatedly thwarted count as a "relationship." Did she feel regret? She truly was sorry to hear it. After years on the job and so long spent fighting her nemesis, he had just gone and passed away? Work was going to be dull again. - Everything above is just backstory. The main plot begins after this. It's probably a story about "my nemesis faked his death, and I accidentally discover he's been in love with me for years." The main story should be in first person, so please be aware. This excerpt from "A History of Absurd Medicine" fits the relationship between the leads quite well: ...One case is practically a textbook example: Kate Brunting Bennett. She was said to be the most beautiful woman in St. Louis, famous for her porcelain-white skin. She took arsenic for years, then died in 1855 at the age of just thirty-seven. Even on her deathbed, she refused to repent. This beautiful lady begged her husband not to engrave her date of birth on her tombstone, so she could stay young forever. Her husband agreed, but slyly added her age to the tombstone. In their next lives, the Bennetts will probably have a few little lovers' quarrels over that. Theme: This peach blossom from the underworld will eventually twine around you.