Swept Away by Passion

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"Long-planning Business Tycoon x Spoiled, Radiant Heiress | Marriage First, Love Later, Sweet Romance"

Everyone in Qigang knew that Shang Xunyan, head of the Shang family, was as untouchable as a snow-capped peak above the clouds. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze was cool and distant. Gentle, refined, and noble, yet aloof and detached, he used iron-fisted methods to pull a century-old family out of decline. With a few soft-spoken words, he could bankrupt his rivals. Even the society ladies were afraid that merely coveting him would be an affront to this celestial being.

Yet this high-and-mighty flower fell into the hands of the Lin family's heiress, whose reputation was the worst in Hong Kong's elite circles.

When news of their arranged marriage broke, the entire city was in an uproar. After all, everyone knew Lin Qiao had been chasing Shang Zelin, while Shang Xunyan was the third uncle Shang Zelin respected most.

At the engagement banquet, the sight of Shang Zelin embracing his new love stabbed at Lin Qiao's eyes. Champagne burned down her throat, and she stumbled into the restroom, scooping water to wash away her tears.

A cool scent of cedar mingled with champagne suddenly spread behind her. Shang Xunyan's silhouette formed in the mirror, dark as ink. Through his gold-rimmed glasses, his cold gaze seemed like a blade tempered in frost.

The man took out a silk handkerchief and wrapped it around her trembling fingertips. The warmth of his palm seeped through the fabric and branded her wrist. "You are the mistress of the Shang family, Zelin's sister-in-law."

Lin Qiao looked up and met the gaze behind his glasses. Dark currents surged there, beyond her understanding. Suddenly, he clasped the back of her neck. His calloused thumb brushed over her smudged eye makeup, his breath skimming her damp eyelashes. "Remember, the dignity you're about to ruin is mine."

Everyone thought Shang Xunyan didn't love Lin Qiao. Even Lin Qiao believed their marriage was a spiteful second choice. But she didn't know that on a damp, rainy night, the man would grip her waist and pin her against the floor-to-ceiling window, his Adam's apple bobbing as he said, "Xiao Qiao, I won't make the same mistake twice."

At last, she realized that all those years of obsession had simply been a case of mistaken identity: she'd loved the wrong man.

Later, Hong Kong media photographed the rose castle the century-old Shang family had spent a fortune building. The ever-composed Mr. Shang carried his wife, dressed in a slip nightgown, through the flower arbor. The hickeys on her neck were more vivid than the cinnabar roses blooming around them.

Later, on a stormy night on Hong Kong Island, Shang Zelin knelt outside the rose estate and asked Lin Qiao if she could give him another chance.

Lin Qiao was thinking how to refuse when Shang Xunyan held a black umbrella over her. The cold ring on his hand pressed into her waist. As he turned, he glanced coldly at the man on the ground and spoke in a voice colder than ice:

"The Shang family rules state that anyone who covets his elder brother's wife must first endure ninety-nine lashes, then kneel on the three hundred bluestone steps of the ancestral hall."

One autumn rain brought Chu Zhiqing and Xie Cheng together.

The boy was gentle, cheerful, clean-cut, and sunny, a rich young man who seemed born to shine.

The first time:

Chu Zhiqing was riding her little electric scooter to class with a friend. They were passionately debating which Hong Kong star was the most handsome, and she accidentally drove toward Xie Cheng.

She was terrified.

Among a crowd of tall, handsome boys, Xie Cheng looked up. His eyes were bright, the corners tilted upward, and they held a smile.

The boy rested his long-fingered hand on the scooter's handlebars and smiled gently at her.

"What are you and your friend discussing so seriously, sis? You didn't even watch where you were going."

The second time:

She was invited to his birthday party.

The boy lived in an expensive villa district and, through his own efforts, had already made the acquaintance of many industry bigwigs.

Ashamed and in a bad mood, she crouched by the pond, staring absentmindedly at the fish.

The boys nearby were playing around. They shoved someone into the pond, sending water splashing everywhere. Chu Zhiqing froze, unable to react, and got drenched from head to toe.

Everyone couldn't help teasing and laughing at her. A smile spread across Xie Cheng's usually aloof face as he leisurely wiped her off with a towel.

"What were you thinking about, sis?" The boy bent down to look at her, his smile undisguised. "You didn't even know to dodge when you saw the water splash?"

Chu Zhiqing's face turned crimson. She fell head over heels for the boy before her.

Little did she know that his gentle, sunny exterior was only a disguise. His hidden schemes and cunning were enough to make anyone's blood run cold.

They shared such a deep bond, yet in the end things became so ugly that the whole school knew about it.

Before graduation, she deleted every one of Xie Cheng's contact details, determined never to see him again.

Years later, they met again on a rainy autumn day.

Neither noticed the other as they brushed past, but at that same moment, someone called both their names.

Chu Zhiqing turned back in surprise. Xie Cheng, whom she hadn't seen in years, wore a suit and looked mature, elegant, and refined.

A pair of black, half-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of his tall nose. A cold gleam shone on the thin lenses as he gazed at her with deep eyes.

Afterward, her love life went badly. Her boyfriend dumped her, and other people humiliated her with their words.

Just as she was heartbroken and on the verge of collapse, Xie Cheng came to her and took her hand, speaking with gentle composure:

"Qingqing, just say you love me. No matter how many difficulties lie ahead, I'll take care of them for you."

Coming Soon: [Sweet Childhood Friend]

A cheerful, sweet girl x a cool, aloof boy: Tao Xiaxia x Zhou Yuze

Professor Zhou is married.

Back in school, Zhou Yuze was always the brightest star on campus.

He was wise and rational, cool and proud. He once declared that the person he sought as a life partner would surely be gentle, elegant, mature, and sophisticated.

Until he showed up at a class reunion holding his wife's hand:

Tao Xiaxia, his childhood friend, a scatterbrained, ordinary girl who always ranked at the bottom of the class.

Seeing the former campus heartthrob carefully dote on his wife like a lovesick puppy, his classmates were stunned.

Back in school, everyone thought Zhou Yuze didn't like Tao Xiaxia. Even Zhou Yuze himself thought so.

But no one noticed that when he described his ideal type as the exact opposite of Xiaxia, making her puff out her cheeks in anger, he would sneak a glance at her with the faintest curve to his lips.

Nor did anyone notice that after telling Xiaxia to her face that her handmade gift was hideously ugly, he'd go back to his room and secretly lock it away in a box...

In the summer of 2000, Zhou Yuze followed his grandfather to Ping'an Alley. The first person he saw was Tao Xiaxia, sitting cross-legged on the steps.

The little girl with two braided pigtails was carrying a watermelon as big as her face and munching on it, giggling as she watched the boys play ball.

The ball rolled to her feet, and the boys called for her to kick it over.

Tao Xiaxia obediently put down her watermelon, picked up the ball, and threw it with all her might. She wasn't strong enough, so it landed right on her head.

Her grape-black eyes went blank. A moment later, she touched the spot where she'd been hit and burst into tears.

Watching the neighbor girl surrounded by boys trying to comfort her, silly and spoiled, Zhou Yuze already regretted moving here.

P.S. Pure childhood-friends romance, adorable and sweet!

The male lead is a tsundere jerk and a doting childhood friend.

Theme: Through hardship and setbacks, we will become the best versions of ourselves