The Wickedest Butterfly

Younger top / eighteen-year age gap / the top is eighteen

1.

The liquor boss's right-hand man is a handsome young man as beautiful as a butterfly. Gorgeous, fragile, skilled in manipulation, and exceptionally capable.

Some mocked him as the liquor boss's canary, saying that even one of his ears had been struck deaf by his boss.

The young man heard this at a banquet and nodded with a smile, entirely unconcerned about exposing the bruises around his wrists and the hickeys on his collarbone.

“So jealous? Why not volunteer to share his bed and see whether he even looks at you?”

2.

He certainly would not.

Jiu Bosheng had occupied the position from which he could command Hong Kong's winds and rains for twelve years.

Ruthless behind the scenes, he was nonetheless one of the city's foremost philanthropists in public: cold, dispassionate, proud, and distant.

The one exception was the frail young man surnamed Li, whom he kept at his side.

Jiu Bosheng patiently taught him to lower his head, molding him into someone elegant, proper, and perfectly to his liking.

Unfortunately, Li Haoyue was the most rebellious person he had ever met.

3.

With the collapsed Jiu family beneath his feet, Li Haoyue rose to prominence.

People said that the ungrateful wolf raised by the liquor boss was more outstanding than the man himself, and even more vicious.

Li Haoyue merely smiled. He cared about no one, just as he did not care about Jiu Bosheng.

Everything in this world was merely a stepping stone for his revenge.

4.

When he saw Jiu Bosheng again, stripped of all honor, the temple was bustling with worshippers.

Li Haoyue gave him a hurried glance. He saw how thin he was, how composed, how he was being pestered by a smooth-talking vendor, and how he then left with a protective talisman.

It was meant to ward off calamity and illness for Li Haoyue.

An underling asked in astonishment, “Boss, could it be that you don't hate him?”

Jiu Bosheng merely said, “He is only a young man. Victory and defeat are ordinary things, and cold-heartedness is his nature. Though he won, I have my own road to walk.” After spending half his life cold and suspicious, he had fallen into utter ruin the moment he developed a little affection. Could this be retribution?

But he did not regret it.

There were many butterflies in Hong Kong, but never again would one be a child raised by this venomous snake.

4.

How much longer can he live?

Li Haoyue knew that he was a flame about to go out at any moment.

When the wind blew, a hand had once cupped around him.

He wanted him.

Li Haoyue did not understand this feeling, but Jiu Bosheng had taught him: once you have come, there is no need to stop until you have torn your prey apart and eaten it, bones and all.

Possessive sickly canary top who fights and snatches X domineering father-type powerhouse bottom

Happy ending. Very loving, not angsty.

Theme: Never lose heart.