A Butterfly's Wings Flutter

Mutual healing / A long-planned pursuit / A gloomy puppy / Rekindled love

[Blurb]

Li Mingzhen is a wealthy heiress from Beijing's elite circle, a flower of luxury with a slender waist and a striking, haughty face. She's the woman the young heirs in her social circle want but don't dare to provoke.

Yet the future head of the Xue Group pursued this spoiled heiress relentlessly for three years. In a moment of impulsiveness, Li Mingzhen agreed to the marriage arranged by her family and the Xue family.

Only two years into their marriage, Li Mingzhen's husband showed his true colors and prepared a "surprise" for her.

The scumbag put his arm around a woman ten years younger than her and said, "Mingzhen, Qianqian is pregnant with my child. Let's get divorced."

With a cherry so dark red it was almost black between her lips, Li Mingzhen chewed slowly. Only after swallowing did she narrow her eyes and say, "Sure. You leave with nothing, give me three percent of the Xue Group's shares, and issue a statement saying you were fooling around behind my back. Then I'll divorce you."

The scumbag wouldn't agree to demands like that. Li Mingzhen neither nagged nor made a fuss. She simply kept an eye on him, holding his lifeline in her hands as she watched the show.

-

After being cheated on, Li Mingzhen felt like a joke. Her husband's sweet talk had cost her five years of her youth.

Unwilling to accept it, she called Gu Yixing, a university student she'd been supporting for ten years, to drink and talk.

"How old are you, kid?" She'd had too much to drink, and her cheeks were flushed. Her dazed eyes hooked onto the puppy-like young man beside her.

"Eighteen," the young man murmured, his thin lips parting.

"Have you done it before?" Li Mingzhen asked with a teasing smile.

The young man's ears turned bright red, like a scarlet pomegranate blossom, beautiful and delicate. In her drunken haze, Li Mingzhen gently bit down on the flower.

Early the next morning, Li Mingzhen woke with a splitting headache, and her body hurt as if it had been torn apart.

Her memories played like a flickering film, piecing together the wild night before: an innocent young face, a lean back with subtle muscle, moans that seemed to break through the sky... Li Mingzhen turned pale with fright. What on earth had I done to that college student?

The room was neat and tidy. On the table lay a note in elegant handwriting: I made porridge. It's staying warm in the pot. Remember to eat when you wake up, Big Sister. I had a lovely time last night. Remember to come find me again.

Realizing she'd done something she shouldn't have while drunk, Li Mingzhen's first thought was: At least he's an adult. I won't have to spend my next life in prison.

She never imagined that right after her husband cheated on her, she'd make a move on the university student she sponsored, who was a full eight years younger than her.

But then she thought about it: Her scumbag husband cheated first. If he could find someone younger, why couldn't she?

So, to get back at him, Li Mingzhen decided to keep the young man.

Li Mingzhen admitted that being with a university student was more fun.

-

But the good times didn't last. When Li Mingzhen's father found out about her relationship with Gu Yixing, he thought she was a disgrace and secretly sent Gu Yixing abroad without telling her.

He was gone for five years.

When they met again after all that time, Gu Yixing was no longer the broken little puppy who used to beg her to stay. He had transformed into a celebrated, award-winning scientist, returning in triumph with the highest honors.

At the celebration banquet held to welcome Gu Yixing home, he basked in the spotlight and adoration, every gesture elegant and composed, like a perfect gentleman.

But once the spotlight shifted away, he pulled off his mask and brazenly plucked the vivid red rose hidden in the corner. His cold, merciless voice was full of mockery. "Big Sister, you were so cruel. Once you got tired of playing with me, you sent me overseas. I want to see who could make you this happy in all the years you spent without me."

Only then did Li Mingzhen understand why he'd seemed so different as soon as he returned: he was here to get revenge on her.

-

When Gu Yixing was eight, his parents died in a car accident. His relatives thought of him as a burden and refused to take him in, so they dumped him in an orphanage.

That year, Li Feng, head of the Li family, visited the orphanage with his wife and daughter. That was the first time Gu Yixing and Li Mingzhen met.

Li Feng intended to give Li Mingzhen the orphanage to manage once she came of age, and asked her to choose an orphan to sponsor. Gu Yixing caught her eye at once.

From then on, the moon shone down on the ditch, and the ditch nourished life. He joyfully broke free of his cocoon and took flight. His days of struggling through the muddy swamps were finally over.

Li Mingzhen was the force that drove Gu Yixing to break free of his cocoon, and the treasure he was determined to protect for the rest of his life.

But she abandoned him for the sake of her family's interests.

Older woman-younger man romance, eight-year age gap. The male lead has a secret crush on the female lead, who takes him to bed before falling for him.

Theme: The butterfly flies upward, breaking free from hardship.