Cute Aggression

| A healing, goofy, sweet little romance |

On Sheng Ning's first day of kindergarten, her mother pointed to the man on a magazine cover and told her, "That's your father. One day, he'll come pick you up in a Rolls-Royce."

Little Sheng Ning knew better than to believe her. Her father must already be dead.

She munched on cold, hard bread and did her best to warm her little hands on the barely warm radiator, deciding to forgive her mother for trying to make her feel better.

Then, when she was in high school, her father really did come to pick her up in a Rolls-Royce.

Sheng Ning (shocked): Wait, am I the baby everyone talks about, the one someone ran away with while pregnant?

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At the insistence of their elders, Sheng Ning temporarily moved in with Lu Jingxi, an old family friend.

The first time she saw him, he stood by the window, his shirt buttoned all the way to the top as he played with a fountain pen. He was elegant and refined, his brilliance understated.

His eyes alone were unfathomable.

Their gazes met, and spring grass sprouted in Sheng Ning's heart.

She carefully guarded her secret, hiding the long, one-sided heartbreak that had begun at first sight.

Years later.

At a New Year's family dinner, they had both been drinking, and the moon shone bright as snow.

Amid laughter and fireworks filling the sky, Sheng Ning stood beside him as he quietly asked, "How come you've never had a boyfriend?"

Sheng Ning lied without thinking. "I don't want to date right now. My studies come first... What about you?"

Lu Jingxi turned toward her, his eyes fixed only on her, not the fireworks. "The woman I love is focused on her studies right now."

Content notes:

1. Eight-year age gap. They are each other's one and only, and are not related by blood. "Uncle" here is a respectful way to address a friend of one's father who is younger than him.

2. Mutual pining.

Theme: Never let down your career or your ideals