Fallen Sparrow

[Ferocious Young Man * Delicate Caged Songbird] [Two-Year Age Gap] On the night a blizzard hit Jing City, Jiang Youli saw her adoptive father's biological son for the first time. In a narrow, dark alley, the young man had a glowing red tip between his fingers. Through the pale smoke, he repeatedly ground his foot into someone who had tried to hurt him. The veins stood out on his slender, porcelain-white ankle, hinting at a vicious nature. Suddenly, he looked up and met her gaze through the window of the warm car where she was hiding. Beneath the snow-dusted lashes, she saw eyes as savage as a rabid dog's. Jiang Youli was terrified and began to worry about what it would be like to live under the same roof as him. * A month later, they officially met at their adoptive father's funeral. The richest man in Jing City had died unexpectedly. Tycoons and financiers from every industry came to pay their respects. Jiang Youli stood in the middle of the crowd, pale-faced as she managed the proceedings. The ambitious gazed greedily at her gentle, beautiful face, coveted the billions in inheritance she stood to receive, and schemed in secret. As the funeral drew to a close, the crowd surged in excitement and stared in astonishment at the unexpected guest who arrived last. The young man wore a black suit. His dark eyes still held a chill, and the icy butterfly brooch on his lapel gave him a refined, restrained air, utterly different from that night. He was as aloof as the first snow, every bit the pinnacle of handsome young nobility. He pressed his palms together and offered incense to the gods with cool composure, like the most devout believer. Jiang Youli trembled slightly. She alone knew what kind of rotten nature hid beneath the face before her. She smiled faintly and presented him with a welcome gift: a string of black sandalwood prayer beads once enshrined in a temple by a holy monk. They had been blessed with over a thousand days and nights of chanting, and people said they could purify even the most vicious demon. "Welcome home, little brother." The young man accepted the gift and turned his head to look at her soft, rosy lips, his fingertips lightly rolling the cool prayer beads. Suddenly, there was a crisp snap. The beads broke, scattering black across the floor, where he ground them beneath his foot. He curled his lip with cold disdain and said lazily, "What a shame. The Buddha can't save me." * Jiang Youli mistakenly thought he saw her as a thorn in his side. She decided to accept the elders' arrangements and go on a date with a suitable young man, so she could leave this house as soon as possible. Unfortunately, her matchmaking dates never worked out. After it happened a few times, she grew suspicious and glared at Jiang Li with tearful eyes, demanding to know what he wanted. Jiang Li turned his back to her, revealing a new tattoo on the back of his neck. With a cigarette between his teeth, he replied in a flat voice, "You." Jiang Youli didn't believe a word of it, but he calmly lay his head on her lap, placing his most vulnerable spot in her palm. He sucked in a breath and said, "Sister, be gentle." * On a rainy night after her fiance betrayed her, Jiang Youli wandered the streets in a daze. A black Cullinan followed quietly behind her. At last, the window lowered, revealing the young man's cold eyes. He asked, "Are you coming?" She shook her head in panic. He got out, his patience completely gone, and forcefully restrained her slender wrist as he murmured, gentle yet cruel: "Have you forgotten our bet? This is your last chance. You lost. From now on, you'll be my caged bird." * The young man, ferocious as a rabid dog, hated everyone indiscriminately. Until one snowy day, he met a girl in a white dress, running straight toward him. Her eyes shone like ten thousand stars. At that moment, he thought he had seen an angel. Theme: