A Rouge-Wearing Spectator

“The time for revenge has come, but I love you.” A disciplined, refined gentleman x a stunning movie star A powerful man lowering his head | Clear-eyed surrender | The player falls for his pawn Yan Ning never imagined that the down-and-out tea merchant she flirted with on a tea mountain would turn out to be one of the most distinguished young men in all of Yanjing. Just as her career hit rock bottom, a contract was placed before her. The man she had once teased now drew her into his arms with effortless elegance. “Sign it. You broke my flower, so we’ll have to put another one in the house.” Yan Ning signed. Later, after she had sweet-talked him again and again, he paid her astronomical breach-of-contract fees, showered her with countless pieces of priceless jewelry, and put her photo on the largest billboard in Yancheng. That enormous screen happened to face his office. Everything about it made it seem as though he truly loved her. But one day, she accompanied a friend to an engagement party, and the man who had been whispering sweet nothings in her ear just the night before turned out to be someone else’s fiancé. When she caught the bouquet, Yan Ning’s heart twisted with pain, but she still raised her glass to him from afar with a smile. “May you be together for a hundred years.” A stormy night. Thunder. Ragged breaths. He gripped her waist. “Say it again.” As the rain lashed down, Yan Ning bit her lip. “May you be together for a hundred years.” She had thought he was a light illuminating her dark world. Only when the bubble burst did Yan Ning realize that he was the one who had plunged her world into darkness. He thought it was a beauty trap. Only after she left did Lu Yanqing understand just how badly he had been wrong. Her diaries held his love and his remorse: “Yan Ning, it’s not that I only love you now. It’s just that I’m only telling you now.” “Let’s stay together for a hundred years. What do you say?” The opening line of the blurb is quoted from a collection of poems by Pablo Neruda. ■ My next book, Endless Summer, is open for follows. Please add it to your reading list! A streetwise, attentive, meticulous police captain x a cool-headed, cultured prosecutor On their way back from a joint investigation, rain poured down, and floodwater reached their knees. He kept one hand on the steering wheel and looked ahead. “Want to stop by my place for a while?” The rain outside was just like it had been that afternoon when they broke up. She gazed into the downpour and said flatly, “No.” He chuckled. “Feeling guilty, or scared?” She was never one to resist a provocation. By the time she came to her senses, the door was already shut. The click made her nerves and memories tremble along with it. And the blatant stare from behind pinned her firmly in place. ■ Check out my completed novels The Longing: Age gap Wild and Wayward: Small-town story, warm and healing Falling Asleep in Your Shirt: Workplace romance, age gap He Handed Me a Cigarette: Mature man and woman romance The CEO and His Little Trouble-Maker: Lighthearted, sweet romance Theme: Flowers may rust, but love can reshape flesh and bone.