A Tender Kiss

[New novel Water-Colored Tides, please add it to your favorites. Actress x powerful executive, pregnancy before love, contract marriage]

Marriage first, love later // A long-planned scheme

Sickly beauty from Jiangnan x young nobleman

Everyone knows that Shen Zhiyi, the only daughter of the Shen family of Jingbei, is frail. She was sent to the water towns of Jiangnan to recuperate at ten, and hasn't returned in over a decade.

The Shen and Song families arranged their children's marriage when they were young. Shen Zhiyi was raised in Jiangnan until she was twenty, then sent back to Jingbei.

But by then, the Song family's second young master had already fallen for the Shen family's adopted daughter and firmly refused the arranged marriage.

For a while, the upper-class social circles couldn't help laughing at her. Surely the Shen family's biological daughter couldn't marry as well as their adopted daughter. On top of that, she'd been raised in the countryside, so she probably wasn't fit for polite society. No one in the capital would want her.

Then one day,

a video surfaced online.

In it, a beautiful woman in a smoky blue-green qipao stood gracefully outside an antique shop, her raven hair cascading down her back, a string of green sandalwood prayer beads in her jade-white hand.

In front of her, a man in a black suit knelt on one knee. His long, elegant fingers clasped her ankle as he helped her put on her shoe.

Perhaps sensing the camera, the man turned his head.

His sharply defined, handsome face belonged unmistakably to the Song family's untouchable Third Master, Song Yannan.

Everyone was stunned.

So the uncle had married Shen Zhiyi in his nephew's place, fulfilling the marriage alliance with the Shen family. Surely a marriage like that couldn't be happy either.

At a banquet one day,

someone accidentally caught a glimpse of the usually cold and detached Third Master Song being pressed against a wall and kissed by Shen Zhiyi in her qipao.

The young woman seemed tipsy. With hazy, drunken eyes, she tugged at his tie and rose onto her toes, but could only reach his chin.

Song Yannan lowered his eyes and chuckled. He picked her up and pointed to the corner of his lips, coaxing her softly,

"You kissed the wrong place. Here."

"Miss Shen, you don't have to send me flowers anymore."

"Hm?"

"I mean, will you marry me? Marry me."

Cool and straightforward x scheming and aloof

Antique shop owner x surgeon

Reader's guide:

1. Both leads are virgins, a fluffy sweet story

2. No real-life inspirations

[The next novel, The Wind Is Quiet, will be opening soon. Blurb below.]

Cool and straightforward x roguish, wild, and devoted

Female doctor x male top-tier star

1.

Years later,

Lin Wenyu never thought she would see Shang Yu again.

The reckless, arrogant boy from back then had become a top-tier star, with his posters plastered on every street and his fame sweeping the country.

She never expected that on that stormy night,

Shang Yu would brave the downpour and chase her all the way to her apartment building.

In the dim stairwell, the motion-activated light went out.

All that remained was his heavy breathing and a heartbeat neither of them could identify.

He stared into her eyes, his fingers gripping her chin so hard it hurt. His tone was just as it had been back then,

stubborn and devoted.

"Lin Wenyu, if you have to choose someone,

why not choose me?"

He gazed at her and said each word slowly,

"I mean,

marry me."

2.

Ever since Shang Yu debuted, he had worn a musical note tattoo on his wrist.

Many people had speculated about its meaning.

Then one day,

the top-tier star suddenly announced his marriage.

Someone in the know revealed that his bride was his high school sweetheart.

Not long afterward, the tattoo was deciphered too.

The notes played a name, three characters long:

Lin, Wen, Yu.

Reader's guide:

1. Rekindled love, mutual pining, marriage first and reconciliation afterward

2. The male lead is not an idol

3. Both leads are virgins

Private Escape, a male-pining story. Please add it to your favorites. Blurb below.

Homewrecker love story // Unrequited love from the male lead

Cool tattoo artist x roguish, wild young master

When Chu Jia was eight, she followed her mother to the capital after her mother remarried.

Nobody liked her.

Only Zhou Huaian asked her,

"Hey, want some candy?"

Chu Jia wiped away her tears and took the White Rabbit candy from his hand.

And from then on, she loved him for ten whole years.

During her junior year,

Zhou Huaian became engaged to Chu Jia's stepsister, who shared neither of her parents.

As an unwanted burden brought along by her mother's remarriage,

Chu Jia was naturally dumped.

Just when everyone thought Chu Jia would disappear from their social circle,

she got engaged to the Cheng family's mad dog of a young master, the one nobody dared cross.

Everyone in their circle thought Chu Jia was manipulative.

She'd just broken up with the young master of the Zhou family,

and in the blink of an eye, she was with the Cheng family's heir.

And it had been less than three months.

They'd probably been sneaking around long before that.

Hearing this, Cheng Wang took a drag from his cigarette and laughed coldly.

What a bunch of idiots.

At first, everyone thought Chu Jia had gone to great lengths to climb the social ladder by hooking up with Cheng Wang.

But the truth was...

"I think I saw Brother Wang kissing a woman in the lab today. She kind of looked like Chu Jia."

"Funny, last time I saw Brother Wang in the restroom asking Chu Jia, 'I've been taking care of you for so long. When are you going to make it official?'"

"Damn, yesterday at the racetrack, Brother Wang suddenly said he had to go home and make Chu Jia some soup halfway through driving."

Everyone fell silent.

Why did Cheng Wang sound so much like Chu Jia's lovesick puppy?

Cheng Wang was known in their circle as an unruly, unconventional, lazy, and arrogant man.

But nobody knew

that for ten years, he'd been coveting his best friend's girlfriend.

Until one night at a bar,

Chu Jia got drunk and suddenly grabbed his arm, rose onto her toes, and kissed him.

Amid the jeers and cheers,

Cheng Wang lowered his eyes, his expression cold and piercing. "Did you even see who you were kissing?"

Chu Jia swayed unsteadily, her face red as she apologized and tried to leave.

But he grabbed her, bent down, gripped her chin, and kissed her back fiercely.

"The night is damp, the ground is damp.

The air is still, the trees are silent.

Tonight, I love you."

Theme: Love is a capacity.