Wild Mist Lantern

Rumor had it that Zhou Yulie, the mad young master hated by everyone in Jinghai, returned to the Zhou family in his third year of exile in a remote town, clutching an acceptance letter from Jing University. Accompanying him was a sickly young woman in a gray dress.

"She's just a bird that madman keeps."

"Who knows how long she'll last?"

A few years later, the mad young master became the most favored heir to the Zhou Group. As for the girl, no one ever saw her again.

"She was just a bird to amuse him. He must have gotten bored of her by now."

"Maybe she left. Maybe she's dead."

Until one day, at an art exhibition by the genius painter Yu Zhuo.

Someone saw the Zhou Group's new head pin a beautiful woman in a gray dress against a wall, his voice hoarse and tender as he pleaded, "Little Yu, this time, take me with you when you run away, okay?"

*

"Wen Ran, if I want someone, I want her for the rest of her life. Can you give me that?"

Wen Ran knew she was ill. Her body was failing, and her thoughts had turned selfish. She could not give him a lifetime, but she wanted him anyway.

So she deceived him, tempted him, drew Zhou Yulie into falling with her, and used him to fill the emptiness in her heart.

Later, she became famous, he got engaged, and she ran away.

She remembered him saying, "Little Yu, keep moving forward. Don't look back."

"Zhou Yulie, we both have to live well, precious as jewels and fierce as fire."

Zhou Yulie was born a reckless devil, afraid of nothing and no one. On his first day in town, he crossed the local gang of hoodlums. He had just rolled up his sleeves when a girl with a bruised mouth and a tattered skirt spread her arms in front of him, begging the hoodlums to let him go.

That day, he neither hit anyone nor got hit. But something inside him shattered completely.

Later, he kept her by his side, treasuring her and doing everything he could to lift her up. Just as she finally gained her freedom, he regretted letting her go. So, in countless dark nights, he kissed her neck and took what he wanted without restraint beneath her fluttering skirts.

He remembered her saying, "Zhou Yulie, we both live in darkness. We were made for each other."

When she wanted him, he refused.

When he wanted to keep her, she wouldn't stay.

But their fates had long been entwined like vines. They could not part without both being hurt, and even then, they could not truly be apart.

[Gentle, scheming, sickly orphan girl x obsessive, passionate mad young master, followed by genius painter x group heir]

Theme: Struggle onward, and always keep hope alive.