Chasing Pears

[This novel is now complete. If you've already read it, please don't buy it again!]

The companion novel, Blazing Temptation, is available for preorder. Its blurb is below.

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The Mu family, once one of Jiangcheng's most prosperous families, fell into decline overnight after a disastrous investment.

As the family teetered on the brink of collapse, Chi Lin, their former neighbor, showed up with a contract.

Mu Li had just turned eighteen. She secretly watched the bespectacled man from the stairs, his bearing refined and his manner cool and distant.

Her admiration and longing were impossible to hide.

Before long, the Mu family was out of danger, but its only little princess left Jiangcheng.

After four years by Chi Lin's side, Mu Li went from being hopelessly devoted to wanting nothing more than to escape.

On the day she graduated from university, she saw the news that the chairman of the Mu Group and his wife had fallen to their deaths.

In a daze, she made her way to the office, where she overheard a conversation she would never forget.

Mu Li left without looking back, utterly forlorn.

Three years later, she returned to China to attend an auction.

In the end, she could only watch coldly as the man who had staged the whole thing spent a fortune to buy her mother's keepsake back.

When it was over, Chi Lin blocked her way at the door and dropped to one knee, slipping a bracelet onto her wrist. His voice was utterly humble.

"Lili, please don't leave, okay?"

Mu Li gave a soft laugh. None of the gentle, obedient warmth she once had remained in her eyes.

"Mr. Chi, an enemy should act like an enemy."

Content warnings:

1. Melodrama and a groveling ex who tries to win her back. The male lead gets most of the angst, and the heroine is loved unconditionally.

2. Both leads have only ever been with each other. Happy ending. Eight-year age gap.

3. The heroine is weak at first, but she'll gradually learn to be strong. Please don't criticize her.

4. Please don't conflate the characters with the author. Malicious comments will be deleted. If it's not for you, feel free to leave. Let's all be happy!

Blurb revised on January 20, 2021. Screenshot saved.

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Blazing Temptation

Seven years later, when Lian Li ran into Fu Chen again, his voice was unchanged, but its warmth had faded, leaving a chilling edge.

"Mine?"

Lian Li and her son exchanged glances, then fell briefly silent.

He was still handsome, but the CEO had become a rideshare driver.

She straightened her expression and calmly said,

"Driver, my husband and I have a wonderful relationship."

Fu Chen gave a low laugh, glancing at the man standing motionless outside the car window. His gaze darkened.

"Yeah. The five-finger mark on his face is perfectly symmetrical."

After the Fu family was gone, not a glimmer of light remained in Fu Chen's eyes. He grew quiet and brooding.

Until one day, Lian Li walked against the light into the shadowy alley and smacked the still-burning cigarette from between his fingers.

"You're smoking in my son's face!"

Fu Mingli rose onto his tiptoes and held out a handful of crumpled bills.

"Mister, could I pay you all this to be my dad for one day? My school has a parent-child event tomorrow."

"Mom says you wouldn't mind becoming a dad just like that."

A glimmer lit Fu Chen's eyes, but he suddenly had no idea where to put it.

You are a blazing fire, scorching thick ink, burning heart and bone.

A beautiful, vicious man with a dark side and a fake vow of celibacy × a bold, bewitching woman who turns on him and refuses to acknowledge him

Theme: People must learn to be strong.