After Swapping Souls with the CEO

[A quirky, carefree little chef x a perfectionist CEO who demands refinement]

After head chef Su Mi cooks twelve full courses of Chinese food for domineering CEO Lian Chen, she is summoned to meet him. Just as she’s imagining the 108 ways a CEO might fall in love with her, the power goes out, and in the most melodramatic turn of events, their souls switch bodies.

From then on, carefree Su Mi has to make do with the CEO’s tall, handsome, refined body. At home, she tends the stove and runs errands. Outside, she ruthlessly takes down the office’s scheming green tea.

But this man is so refined. Just so unbelievably refined.

Watching him get his hair done in big, flirtatious waves and put on glittering makeup nearly makes her jaw drop. All she gets in response is, “What are you looking at? As a woman, can’t you be as refined as me?”

Not only that, he makes her work out three times a week. “Three times a week, three times! Do you not understand? You think abs and a V-line come easy?”

When she accidentally nicks herself shaving, he says, “I’m warning you. If you let yourself get hurt even a little bit again, I’ll destroy you.” If she didn’t know that the person he wanted to protect was his own refined, handsome body, she might almost have been moved.

When the weather turns cold and she puts on red long underwear, he says, “You’re wearing long underwear under a suit? Have you ever seen a CEO wear long underwear?”

This refined, perfect CEO also takes her place enduring her monthly period, suffers the office green tea’s schemes in her stead, and even shows off his boyfriend-level devotion by ripping into her ex. Gradually, she sees how hard his life has been and how much pain he hides. Behind his relentless pursuit of perfection lie so many grievances and so much resentment...

After their souls return to their own bodies, Cinderella walks out of his kitchen and leaves his world.

But to her surprise, he goes to the very place he used to despise and does the very thing he hated most. “I read the novel by your bed, The CEO Falls in Love with Me. Shall we try all the tropes, one by one? What do you say?”

P.S. Body swap, food, and a sweet, healing romance.

Please add my upcoming novel, Black and White, to your reading list!

She is an orphan, but she has never forgotten what a young man told her years ago: Since we live in the sunlight, we must keep justice in our hearts. We must bring warmth and light to every dark corner, and make becoming a hero our faith. Then, at eighteen, she meets a real hero.

Xing Ming, twenty-eight, is a narcotics police officer. In ten years on the force, he has trained countless outstanding undercover agents and never once failed.

But he is nothing like the hero she imagined. He is neither imposing nor full of spirit. He is always stern and silent, like a defeated man weighed down by troubles. Only the occasional flash of severity in his eyes reveals that he once had such sharpness.

The night before the operation begins, he offers her a wish. “After tonight, no one knows what might happen. You can ask me for one thing. If it’s within my power, I’ll do it. Think of it as a last wish.”

Xiang Yang gives a crooked smile. “Do you really have so little faith in me? If you’ll grant anything I ask, then I want to...”

At the last two words, he stubs out his cigarette. “Have some self-respect!”

Xiang Yang gives a cold snort. “Didn’t you say it was a last wish? If I’m going to die, what do I need self-respect for? Just answer me: yes or no?”

He really does think it over for a moment before replying with two words: “All right.”

Years later, she returns. The man beside her is no longer as sharp-tongued and stern as he once was. “Do you regret sending me away?”

“No. I’m a police officer. I never regret catching criminals...” The cigarette ember in his hand flickers on and off. Smoke billows around him, turning into a pale, dense fog. “But... it hurts so much... Thank goodness, thank goodness you came back...”

The man raises his head and forcibly holds back the warm tears in his eyes.

This is Xing Ming: unyielding as steel, with a story written in every scar on his body. He said it hurt. He cried. It was the finest confession of all.

P.S. A story about fighting organized crime, with a strong male lead and a strong female lead. The male lead has no romantic history; the female lead does. Read with caution if that bothers you.

Please add my upcoming novel, The Sixth Sense, to your reading list!

An ancient text says that divine tombs are the burial places of gods. They may lie beneath the sand, be hidden in the water, concealed in the mountains, or hang above the earth. Each tomb spans a mile, and among the burial objects are divine artifacts, some capable of reaching the heavens and connecting to the realms of gods and demons. The whereabouts of divine tombs are unknown, and only the blood of a destined person can open one. Whoever obtains a divine artifact will gain power that reaches the heavens.

While accompanying an archaeological team west of Yumen to explore an ancient tomb, Qian Qian accidentally activates the divine artifact known as the Heavenly Eye. Besides her five senses, she gains a sixth, allowing her to see the ghosts and gods that exist only in myths. She witnesses all kinds of strange and wondrous events, and discovers her world-shaking romance with the ghost officer Tian Ze.

The sixth sense? What is that?

To explain it in terms of modern science, two-thirds of the universe exists in the form of dark matter, which your human senses cannot perceive. This dark matter includes the legendary realms of the gods, immortals, demons, devils, and the underworld. You need to awaken your sixth sense to see them.

And how do you awaken it?

Obtain a divine artifact. Whoever obtains one gains power that reaches the heavens.

What is my divine artifact?

The Heavenly Eye. It’s similar to the one that Yao Ji’s family had thousands of years ago. You know Yang Jian, right? The one with an extra eye on his forehead. Yours works in much the same way, but his came from a divine stone used by Nuwa to mend the heavens, while yours was forged by a certain immortal from the essence of all six realms. It’s much more precious than theirs. And you don’t have to have an ugly eye open on your forehead. It’s been fused directly into your blood.

An immortal? Which one, and where are they now? Maybe I should give it back. And what exactly does this Sixth Sense Inn do?

After she asks, no one answers. Tian Ze, the ghost officer sitting quietly in the corner and sipping tea, hasn’t said a word from beginning to end.

A thousand years ago, an immortal ascended to godhood but failed the tribulation, leaving the Heavenly Eye behind in the human realm.

The Heavenly Eye grows within its bearer’s blood. The ghosts and gods of all six realms covet its power and descend to search for it, plunging the human realm into chaos. To deal with the gods, demons, and monsters wreaking havoc among humans, the ghosts and gods of all six realms jointly establish the Sixth Sense Inn. But behind the inn’s seemingly open and honest facade, the representatives of the immortal realm, the underworld, and the demon realm each have their own mission and hidden agenda.

P.S. A large-scale setting, with a rich plot and romance, planned as a million-word novel. Still in progress. Please add it to your reading list!

Theme: Break with convention and embrace the unexpected and the wonderful things life brings.