Waiting for the Rose to Bend

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[Blurb]

Mutual pining in both directions / showbiz / wealthy families / extremely doting romance

When Gu Feixun was eighteen, she appeared in a Republican-era drama by a renowned director.

She wore a red cheongsam, her long, voluminous hair cascading like a waterfall and swept over one shoulder.

A drop of water clung to her red lips, almost falling.

Her features were breathtakingly beautiful, like a gorgeous red rose.

From then on, she was known as "Sister Rose."

Everyone knew that Gu Feixun came from a wealthy family, with a home so large you couldn't tour it all in a day.

In eight years since her debut, she had acted in only three TV dramas, all of them acclaimed productions.

She had countless fans, and even in the industry, admirers of both sexes were everywhere.

One day, the topic #WhoCanPluckThisRose# started trending online.

People speculated about every possibility, from award-winning actors to esports champions and rising business tycoons.

Someone in the know couldn't take it anymore and left a cryptic comment:

[Gu Feixun chose her fiancé herself when she was seventeen. He's a powerful man second only to the head of the Gu family. All those other nobodies can stop dreaming.]

-

Gu Feixun had been frail and sickly since childhood, and people said she wouldn't live past sixteen.

When she had only five days left before turning sixteen, she met the refined and gentle Huo Chi.

Huo Chi took her hand and said, "I'm willing to give you a year of my life, so you can make it to sixteen. From then on, you'll always be healthy and safe, and live forever."

After that, Gu Feixun's health really did improve.

That year, she remembered the refined, gentle young man.

On her seventeenth birthday, Gu Feixun made a wish in front of everyone:

"I want Huo Chi."

Beneath his refined exterior, Huo Chi stood tall and proud. He wasn't pleased that Miss Gu had singled him out. Instead, he furrowed his brow.

The eldest son of the Gu family, later its head, ordered him, "Come here. Xunxun says she wants you."

Huo Chi's father gave him a shove and ordered, "What are you waiting for? Go over there. She's the Gu family's young lady. Make sure you keep her happy."

Huo Chi walked steadily toward Gu Feixun.

A pair of silver-framed glasses hid all his pride and fierceness. With a smile at the corner of his lips, he looked every bit the refined and gentle gentleman.

Everyone said Huo Chi was willing to do anything for his family's business, even become Gu Feixun's possession.

Huo Chi never tried to explain himself.

Over time, even Gu Feixun came to believe it.

Later, Gu Feixun decided that a marriage alliance could bind him to her, but couldn't win his heart.

She promptly called off the engagement.

She never expected that Huo Chi, who was always so calm and self-possessed,

would have reddened eyes behind his silver-framed glasses,

his refined pride on the verge of driving him mad.

-

As a major figure among Lincheng's wealthy families, Huo Chi seemed refined, but he was no good man.

In just a few short years, he made the Huo Group the city's second-largest conglomerate, surpassed only by the Gu Group.

After news of the canceled engagement got out,

people in their circle said, "He's such a proud man. He's probably had enough of that spoiled young lady and can't wait to call off the engagement."

They were quickly proven wrong.

At a gathering of the city's power players, Huo Chi showed up as promised.

The other bigwigs soon noticed a vivid red rose tattooed on his neck.

His close friend pulled open his white shirt to take a look

and discovered that the rose wound its way up from the left side of his chest.

His friend laughed. "Did a rose bloom in your heart?"

Huo Chi's expression softened as he shook his head.

"No. The rose has always been growing in my heart."

He saw the rose for the first time and knew it was what his heart desired. He waited in silence for so long, only hoping the rose would bend down so he could kiss it.

[Beautiful, scheming young lady X seemingly refined but ruthless man]

Reader's notes:

*Updates every day at 6 p.m. Later on, updates will be daily from Monday to Friday, with ten thousand words each on weekends. I'm reliable about finishing stories, so feel free to jump in.

*The female lead is an actress, so there will be lots of comments and on-screen audience reactions, but the romance is the main focus, with showbiz as a secondary element.

*Weibo: Shizeli.

[Upcoming stories]

"I Want to See You Tonight Too"

Rekindled romance / wealthy families

Lin Jinyue was strikingly beautiful. Her eyes always held a cool, distant aloofness, like a moon forever out of reach.

Her coworkers had worked with her for years and had only ever seen her go between home and the office. No man had ever appeared by her side, so they all wondered what sort of man could win her over.

One night, everyone was working overtime until midnight. The elevator broke down, leaving them no choice but to take the stairs.

They accidentally caught Lin Jinyue with a man pressing her against the wall.

She wore a fitted pale-gold gown that showed off her graceful figure.

The man's fair hand gripped her slender waist tightly.

He was hidden in shadow, his features indistinct,

but the veins stood out on the back of his hand, revealing his restraint and self-control, along with his forceful possessiveness.

His voice was low, with a tempting huskiness and undisguised dominance.

"Lin Jinyue, have I been too gentle with you lately, for you to dare look at other men?"

Lin Jinyue was held against him, her hands pressed to his chest.

"Be reasonable. That was a business partner discussing a contract. How am I supposed to negotiate if I don't look at him?"

"Hah, Lin Jinyue, you want to talk reason with me? Then let's start with how you seduced me, then dumped me for no reason. Now that you're with me, you still dare to chat so happily with other men. What kind of logic is that?"

"..."

"Lin Jinyue, you're something else. You always manage to make me lose control."

Ye Jiqing was a rising star in the business world. In just one year, his technology company had become an industry leader.

Financial magazines rushed to interview him. On their covers,

Ye Jiqing's sharp features and smiling, foxlike eyes made him look like a carefree, rakish young master, his irresistible allure driving women everywhere to dream of becoming Mrs. Ye.

At one gathering, people from their circle joked, "Living for fun is the Young Master Ye's way of life. Thinking he'll tie himself down to one woman? Give me a break."

Only his close friend knew the truth. "That's because you've never seen him go crazy over a woman, like he wants to destroy the whole world."

Everyone was curious. "There's a woman like that? We don't believe it."

His friend just smiled without answering.

Not long afterward, Ye Jiqing made a high-profile investment in a city of moonlight.

At night, the Moonlight City glittered with neon, but none of it could compare to the moon at its summit, sculpted from yellow diamonds.

Rumors soon spread that Ye Jiqing had built the city to propose to the love of his life.

Everyone assumed the story had to be false.

Later, a financial news outlet released a video.

Ye Jiqing was down on one knee, proposing to the breathtaking goddess before him.

"Lin Jinyue, among the countless stars, I choose the moon."

*Breathtaking, aloof goddess X proud rising business tycoon

*The man who loves to play around turns out to be the most devoted

*Her ex-boyfriend plots for ages to lure her in after she dumps him. She thinks he's getting revenge, but he loves her even more than before?

*The male lead is only stubborn about admitting his feelings. Otherwise, he's devoted, strong, considerate, and loves her with all his heart.

*The stubborn couple bickers affectionately. It's not angsty, just sweet and doting.

"Secret Crush"

In high school, Shi Mumian secretly had a crush on the class genius, Zhou Xu. She was always trying to get closer to him, but her deskmate, Lu Jiayan, always got in the way.

Shi Mumian thought Lu Jiayan was the most annoying person in the world!

He was always grinning, leaning against the wall like he thought he was cool, flicking the hem of his white shirt, and hanging around in front of her.

On the eve of graduation, Shi Mumian bickered with Lu Jiayan and said, "Let's never see each other again."

Lu Jiayan's eyes filled with disappointment, but he still wore a faint smile.

"Don't worry. You'll be seeing me all the time."

Lu Jiayan kept his word.

He soon debuted as a singer-songwriter, and within a year, his name was known all across the country.

Everywhere Shi Mumian went, she saw enormous posters of Lu Jiayan.

In them, his eyes seemed to glimmer with light as he gazed intently at Shi Mumian beyond the poster, leaving her more and more confused.

-

Lu Jiayan, the prince of love songs, was incredibly talented and could write all the lyrics and music for an entire album by himself.

He was also handsome, a rare sight even in showbiz.

In seven years since his debut, he had practically never been involved in a dating rumor, as if he were immune to women.

Yet he wrote such moving love songs.

The entire internet speculated that he must have a woman he deeply loved in his heart, someone he sang for, someone who made his heart race.

Then, during the recording of a variety show, the guests were asked to call their first love.

Lu Jiayan called Shi Mumian and told her:

"I've had a crush on you for ten years."

The whole studio held its breath, waiting for the person on the other end to reply.

Then they heard a voice that was usually sweet, but now filled with anger.

"You kept me up last night, and now you've woken me up just to say that? You have a crush on me, and isn't that something the whole world already knows? Why not just announce to the whole world that after ten years of pining, you finally made it official?"

Lu Jiayan stood onstage, facing the audience with a brilliant smile. "Oops, our relationship was accidentally exposed."

Audience: Could you stop looking so obviously happy??

#YouHaveACrushOnHimAndIHaveACrushOnYou#

#TenYearsOfPiningAndIFinallyMadeIt#

#EveryLong-AwaitedReunionIsPartOfHisLong-StandingPlan#

Showy prince of love songs X unruly young screenwriter

*The male lead is a bit of a rascal, but otherwise he's perfect: handsome, rich, talented, devoted, strong, considerate, and the best man in the world.

Theme: Equality and freedom.