What's the Matter?

1

Lin Xiran thought meeting Lu Mingyu was a joke.

It was just a party game for entertainment.

She had bad luck and was told to kiss the first person of the opposite sex on her left.

But then she had pretty good luck, because there was a handsome guy on her left.

Should she kiss him? Sure!

The room went completely quiet after Lin Xiran made her move. As she stood there, confused, the cool, handsome man in front of her suddenly said,

"Could it be that I'm on your right?"

"..."

2

Lin Xiran found out that it had been Lu Mingyu's first kiss.

What a coincidence, it had been hers too.

She didn't care, but Lu Mingyu seemed to care a lot. Now she had a handsome guy who wouldn't leave her alone.

While visiting an aquarium with Lu Mingyu, Lin Xiran's shoes hurt so much that she could barely walk.

Lu Mingyu came over and naturally made as if to carry her.

Lin Xiran solemnly refused. "Men and women shouldn't be so familiar with each other!"

The handsome man raised an eyebrow, his voice both teasing and seductive. "But haven't we already kissed?"

3

A friend once dragged Lin Xiran along to pray for a good match. Distracted, she picked up two omamori at random.

When she turned around, Lu Mingyu was holding one of them. Embroidered on it in big, unmistakable characters were the words "more children, more blessings."

Lu Mingyu leaned close again, smiling wickedly and irresistibly.

His warm, ambiguous breath brushed her face as he asked softly,

"Sis, how many kids do you want?"

Then he added, "I can do my part."

"..."

4

At first, Lu Mingyu thought his feelings for Lin Xiran had deepened little by little.

Later, when he thought back to their first meeting, the sensation of their lips touching had felt no different from how it did now.

So, perhaps love at first sight was the better way to describe it.

*

1. Both leads are each other's first and only, happy ending, older woman-younger man romance.

2. Rebellious puppy-like younger man x sweet, adorable rich heiress.

Blurb for The Rose at Curtain Call

[The rose petals may fall, but love and romance never fade.]

[Corporate tycoon x ballet fairy]

Mutual healing / Reunited after years apart / Mutual secret crush

1

When they first met, Ye Sheng got lost in a strange maze of alleyways.

At the end of the alley, a boy sat alone, his injuries shocking to behold.

Chen Zui glanced at her, his cold eyes full of irritation. "What do you want?"

Ye Sheng mustered her courage and stepped closer. "Big brother, does it hurt?"

Chen Zui scoffed, sounding lazy and impatient. "What's it to you?"

When Ye Sheng left Nanjiang, she cried as she urged Chen Zui to make sure he went to college.

Chen Zui raised a hand and wiped the tears from the little girl's cheeks. His defiance was tempered with helplessness. "You're the only one who can boss me around."

"If you want me to behave, hurry back."

2

Six years later, Ye Sheng and Chen Zui met again on a stormy, thunderous night.

She was a complete mess, scrambling to get away.

He walked straight toward her, tilting his umbrella over her.

Ye Sheng's eyes were red, her manner cold and distant. "Sir, you've got the wrong person, haven't you?"

Chen Zui gave a soft scoff. "You can mistake me for someone else, but I won't mistake you for someone else."

3

Chen Zui, Nanjiang's youngest successful entrepreneur, was famous for his terrible temper and ruthless business tactics.

On the day Nanjiang University began its new term, a photo was quickly posted online.

Chen Zui was following a pretty young woman, dutifully carrying her luggage, holding an umbrella in one hand and fanning her with the other.

He looked like he was waiting on royalty.

Chen Zui soon replied: [It's fine.]

A wave of young women breathed a sigh of relief. Even the tycoon's brief response was enough to convince them.

A few months later, Chen Zui was spotted at a bar. The woman who had been revealed as "It's fine" a few days earlier was sitting in his lap, eating cherries he fed her.

This time, Chen Zui replied even faster: [My fiancée.]

"..."

[Huh? Huh? Huh? Didn't he say there was nothing between them?!!!]

Even if roses are destined to wither, I would still nourish them with love, year after year.

Blurb for my friend's new novel, A Rose in His Grasp:

Spoiled and willful x aloof beauty | fallen heiress x business tycoon

"I've seen an endless, surging tide."

In this bustling world, one gentle glance from you struck the strings of my heart.

*

In Beijing's high society, Jiang Siyi was the most untouchable flower on the mountaintop: distant, chaste, dignified, and self-possessed, with a knack for making a simple white shirt look utterly exquisite.

Yan Mingshu, from another prestigious family, was just as striking in a fiery red dress, radiant and bold.

They belonged to the same social circle, but no one ever linked them together.

There was only one reason: they weren't a match.

Yet only a select few knew they had once been together, briefly.

She had seen the cool, pale, sensual line of his collarbone beneath his white shirt.

The girl, blooming like a rose, had once shed all her thorns for him.

Not long afterward, Yan Mingshu suddenly went abroad, and the two lost all contact.

Jiang Siyi maintained his cool, unruffled composure. His friends all thought it had been nothing more than a reckless youthful fling.

*

The Yan family was on the brink of collapse, and everyone mocked them. Their heiress was about to fall from heaven into hell.

Then news of a marriage alliance between the Yan and Jiang families spread throughout Beijing.

The Yan heiress was spoiled and willful. Some busybodies bet that Jiang Siyi would dump her before long.

Sure enough, photos of Yan Mingshu flirting with her ex-boyfriend spread across the internet.

Women throughout Beijing rejoiced. How could the flower on the mountaintop let a wanton rose get her hands on him?

Then came the annual financial summit, attended by the city's elite.

A livestream camera accidentally caught a glimpse of a lounge backstage, where they saw the tycoon's former girlfriend, who was supposedly entangled with Yan Mingshu.

The corner of a black-and-gold shirt lay over the hem of a wine-red skirt. A string of black sandalwood prayer beads hung from the woman's slender, pale wrist, a striking contrast of black and white.

Her aggrieved voice rang through the room. "Waaah... Jiang Siyi, I'm your ex-girlfriend!"

Their fingers intertwined. The man's lazy, roguish voice came in reply. "Hm? What is it? Have you forgotten who your husband is, Shushu?"

Yan Mingshu: "..." QAQ I'll divorce him as soon as we get home!

Everyone in the livestream: "!!!"

At last, everyone understood. The once-untouchable flower had long since fallen from her pedestal, willingly bowing before his rose.

Theme: Work hard and strive every day!