Reckless

Complete

When they first met, he dealt with the people bullying her until they couldn't get back up.

At dusk, a tall man dressed in black stood beneath an old streetlamp that barely lit the road ahead. He seemed brighter than its feeble glow.

Gathering her courage, she asked, “Big brother, can I come home with you?”

The man turned around, his eyes still cold with bloodlust. Her words seemed to amuse him. “Kid, do you even know who I am? And you still dare come home with me?”

Tang Jingshen was the youngest person ever to hold power in North City. He acted on a whim, used ruthless methods, and was cold-blooded and heartless. He did whatever he pleased.

The only person he showed any patience toward was Tang Yisa.

He took her in as a pitiful girl with nowhere to go and raised her into the most pampered peacock in Yancheng, a beauty no one could take their eyes off.

From the age of fourteen to twenty-two, Tang Jingshen was there for every one of her firsts.

She thought he would go on being part of her life.

At first, she couldn't make sense of her complicated feelings. She only knew that she wanted to be near him and never leave him.

Later, she learned to tell love, friendship, and family affection apart.

She also realized that all those feelings still had to do with him.

But she realized, too, that to him she was no more than a pet to amuse himself with when he was bored.

She meant nothing to him.

So she turned and left.

Tang Jingshen only scoffed.

She'd have to suffer and learn her lesson before she knew how to behave.

He waited leisurely for her to come crawling back on her own.

But he waited and waited. She never came back. Instead, he got a melodramatic scene about a wealthy family reclaiming their long-lost daughter.

His little peacock turned out to be a golden phoenix from a powerful family.

They met again at a banquet hosted by the Ye family to welcome her home.

She wore a gorgeous red dress, dazzling brighter than the crystal chandeliers.

She was turned slightly to one side, patiently straightening the tie of the man beside her.

At last he could no longer sit still. He came over, his face dark with anger. “Had enough of your tantrum? Come home with me.”

Tang Yisa looked at him as if he were a stranger. “Sir, I don't know you. Please show some respect and don't give my fiance the wrong idea.”

“Don't know me?”

A bloodthirsty smile touched his lips. “Does your fiance know what you like best...”

Before he could finish, a sharp slap cut him off.

He took the slap without flinching and asked hoarsely, “Are you done? If not, go ahead and hit me some more.”

“Feel better?” He looked at her, his once-black eyes slowly turning red. “Then come home with your big brother.”

#Be my wild accomplice in this world, my partner in crime as we do whatever we please

Upcoming: Private by Love

They first met when Shen Xi accompanied her grandmother to Guangji Temple to pray for blessings. Through the misty rain, she saw a man in a white shirt and slacks standing in the distance, a string of prayer beads around his wrist. She couldn't help taking a second look.

They met again when her uncle used his connections to get her an internship at a company run by an acquaintance. The two gradually grew close, perhaps a little too close.

Fu Lvbai loved her, but he could only let himself love her.

When Shen Xi left, she asked for nothing except the prayer beads on his wrist, then boarded a plane to Los Angeles.

He couldn't go to the airport, but after the plane took off, the flight attendant's gentle voice rang through the cabin once more:

“Mr. Fu wishes Miss Shen a safe flight and all the best.”

He was always discreet, yet he did everything romantic for her. Even his farewell was grand.

They met again three years later.

Across a room of clinking glasses and lively conversation, Fu Lvbai looked at her from afar.

Her waist-length straight black hair had become a shoulder-length perm, making her look even more mature and alluring.

Then a handsome little boy with curly hair ran over, clung to her leg, and called her Mommy.

The cigarette burned between his fingers, a pain he couldn't put into words.

No one knew that Fu Lvbai didn't believe in Buddha. The prayer beads had simply been requested for him by an elder in his family, and he hadn't wanted to reject the gesture.

No one knew, either, that the year a major earthquake struck the region where Shen Xi lived, he spent the depths of winter at Guangji Temple, bowing ninety-nine times until his whole body touched the ground, praying only for her safety.

Upcoming: Humid Summer Night

Jiang Chi had once done anything to climb the ladder.

The day her reputation was ruined, she spent the entire day trending, utterly disgraced.

Someone else was trending all day, too: Shen Zhi had won three major Best Actor awards at once, basking in glory.

Jiang Chi looked at their names side by side. It was the first time they had appeared so close together in the public eye.

On a low-budget variety show, Shen Zhi appeared as a mystery guest.

They sat at opposite ends of the table, worlds apart. Everyone thought they barely knew each other.

No one knew that they had once squeezed together on a sofa in a damp basement rental, sharing a portion of crayfish and even passing a cigarette between them.

Even Jiang Chi herself had almost forgotten.

Back then, he had loved her so fiercely it nearly killed her.

Now he wouldn't even spare her a glance.

They met again amid rumors that he had no interest in women.

“Let's get married.”

“Why?” Her heart was pounding wildly, and her voice was just as hoarse.

“I need a marriage, and you need my resources. We'll each get what we want.” His tone was strictly business, not a trace of warmth in it.

He was nothing like the man who used to call her “A Chi, A Chi” and treat her so tenderly she felt she might drown in it.

The pain was so sharp that it hurt to breathe, yet she heard herself say yes.

If this was the ending he had chosen for them, she would accept it gladly.

No one knew that the night before he forced her to marry him, Shen Zhi had stood beneath her apartment building, smoking all night.

Theme: Move forward bravely.