Admiration

The next time Nan Zheng saw He Jiuzhen was five years later, in the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department. Their eyes met and quickly turned away, neither of them saying a word. An unsettling tension lingered in the air.

After a long silence, He Jiuzhen finally spoke. His voice was as gentle and cool as ever. "Let's talk."

The conversation ended badly. His face darkened, and he walked away without looking back.

She thought that was the end of their connection.

But when the company assigned them apartments, they somehow ended up as neighbors.

When she saw him, he had just come back from outside. She was wearing a thin nightgown. Startled, she dropped all the sanitary pads in her arms at his feet and stumbled backward. With a stern expression, he asked, "What are you wearing? Do you think you can do whatever you want just because there are no men on this floor?"

*

Later, at a big company dinner, He Jiuzhen showed up. Only then did Nan Zheng learn that he was her boss, the head of the company, and the founder of Shengshi.

One employee had too much to drink and joked that he would find He Jiuzhen a partner: a cute girl three years younger than him.

He rolled his fingertips together and politely declined. When someone asked why, he laughed and said, "Younger women tend to run off. They're hard to tame."

Maybe it was just her imagination, but Nan Zheng felt like he was saying it to her.

During dinner, someone asked Nan Zheng what kind of man she liked. Without a second thought, she answered, "A gentle one."

But the moment she reached her front door, He Jiuzhen blocked her way. He lowered his head and kissed her, his lips faintly scented with alcohol.

He gazed at her, his voice husky and strangely seductive. "You like gentle men?"

*

#When Nan Zheng was thirteen, everyone abandoned her. When He Jiuzhen was twenty, he defied everyone and brought her home. From then on, he became the man she would look up to for the rest of her life.#

Reader's Guide:

① First relationship for both leads, happy ending. The male lead is seven years older than the female lead.

② No angst, a sweet romance, a sweet romance, a sweet romance.

③ The male lead likes to talk tough, but he can't keep it up for more than three seconds.

Theme: Strive to grow, strive to live