In My Bones

An unconventional, universally adored beauty of a bottom X a cold, scheming top [Dog blood, dog blood, dog blood, dog blood! Important things must be said three times! Readers with strong preferences, proceed with caution. Potential triggers have been flagged. If you don't like it, leave quickly and block each other.]

When Yan Li was eighteen, he moved with his mother into the illustrious Lin family, one of the wealthiest families in S City.

Yan Li was dressed in a beautiful white shirt and scrubbed clean. It seemed everyone treated him like a pampered young master.

Only he knew that compared to the Lin family's real young master, the aloof Lin Qingye, he was like a stray puppy begging for scraps, dependent on someone else's goodwill and wagging his tail for affection.

He spent every day on tenterhooks, keeping his head down and behaving himself, yet still attracted plenty of malice.

When people bullied him at a banquet, Yan Li hid in a corner, frightened and aggrieved, but a slender hand slowly wiped away his tears.

Lin Qingye quietly said he liked him, taught him to read and play the piano, and gently, with restraint, promised him a future. Apart from occasionally demanding too much of him in certain matters, he was practically flawless.

Yan Li clung to him like a lifeline, relying on him with all his heart.

Until one day, Uncle Lin drove Yan Li and his mother out of the Lin family, accusing them of stealing company secrets. Lin Qingye, meanwhile, became head of the Lin family business.

Yan Li wasn't stupid. Amid the jeers and curses, he looked up at the cold man before him, who seemed like a completely different person, and finally understood.

Yan Li fled the city in disgrace with his mother. He worked desperately to pay off their debts and became a renowned pianist at home and abroad.

After years of wandering, he finally returned to China to perform. On a rainy day, he saw again the man he had come to loathe.

In the dim light, Lin Qingye pinned him against the car door. His gaze rested on Yan Li's frightened eyes, and a scorching fire seemed to burn in his own.

Yan Li knew Lin Qingye still felt ashamed of the absurd way he had once used his body to deceive him, back when he was so desperately humble. Looking down, Yan Li explained that he had long since forgotten it and no longer liked him.

But the other man stared at him without moving, his voice so low it trembled. "But I still haven't forgotten you."

Their skin touched at the nape of his neck, burning hot. Yan Li feigned surprise and embarrassment, obediently lowered his eyes, and concealed the hatred that had smoldered for years.

Theme: Be brave and face reality and life.