Nightingale Bruises

◎ Gentle yet resilient former war correspondent × obsessive powerful capitalist ◎ Age gap | Reunion after years apart | Humble pursuit of his wife | Powerful man bows his head [Blurb] 1. The year her older brother was killed in action, Chen Ying was seventeen. Bo Yuheng, a war correspondent her brother had saved, brought her back to the Bo family home. That day, his younger uncle, Bo Qingshu, happened to be there too. Chen Ying followed Bo Yuheng's lead and called Bo Qingshu "Uncle." While she lived with the Bo family, Bo Qingshu treated her impossibly well. He called her "Yingying," gave her the best room, attended parent-teacher meetings himself, and even quietly dealt with his own nephew and niece when they bullied her. It was probably only natural that Chen Ying fell for him. She thought there was something more behind his special affection for her. In her sophomore year of college, she gathered all her courage and confessed, only to get this in return: "You just have a father complex." That very night, she moved out of the Bo family home. From then on, she never called the number in her contacts again. 2. They met again at a business association banquet, which Chen Ying's station director had attended to help her make connections. She had just returned from the war zone, and a shrapnel graze had left a scar on her collarbone. Bo Qingshu attended as a top-tier financier, surrounded by people eager to toast him. Following her director over to offer a toast, she smiled with professional politeness. "Good evening, Mr. Bo. I'm Chen Ying." His expression was aloof and composed, as if she were a stranger. "Reporter Chen." No small talk, not even an extra glance. It was as though Yingying and Uncle from all those years ago had never existed. Halfway through the banquet, Chen Ying wanted to catch her breath in the lounge. A server pointed her in the wrong direction. The moment she pushed the door open, someone seized her wrist from the shadows. Bo Qingshu pinned her against the wall and bent his head to bite open her shoulder strap. The pink scar was exposed to the air, and his breathing turned hot and ragged. As he kissed the scar, his voice was so hoarse she could barely hear him. "You ran off to a place like that without a word?" "Chen Ying, where are you going to run off to this time?" Chen Ying didn't try to dodge. "Bo Qingshu, you once said I had a father complex." His movements stopped. She gave a cold laugh and challenged him. "So what are you doing now?" Bo Qingshu lifted his eyes. Dark flames burned in them. "Regretting it." "He was the bruise on her heart; she was the nightingale he refused to let heal." [Reading Guide] ① One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's first, happy ending ② Age gap: the male lead is nine years older than the female lead ③ The male lead will not have romantic feelings for the female lead before she is an adult. ④ Neither lead is perfect. ⑤ Maximum melodrama, with an over-the-top plot. - ★ No other content warnings ★ Not based on any real people - ☆ Initial blurb draft archived on 2026.05.22 ☆ The blurb may be slightly revised later Theme: Loving someone means giving them your sincere heart