Moon-Kissed Tides

The high school memories and the alternate-universe storyline will be added at the end of the month, directly after the bonus chapters. Anyone who bought Chapter 102 can read them for free.

Please add my next book, The Age of Sixteen, to your favorites! Nine-year age gap / Hong Kong flavor / old-school melodrama / coercive romance / old flame rekindled / fake-death story

This book: foster-family setup / secret crush / reunion from the very beginning / intense wolf-and-rabbit push and pull

[Well-behaved on the surface but rebellious girl x cold, arrogant, sharp-tongued rich heir]

While living with the Li family as a foster child, Yu Youxi made one grave mistake: she secretly fell for Li Yan.

There were so many beautiful girls around Li Yan, and each time, they pushed her away from his side, as if a galaxy lay between them.

Secretly loving Li Yan, a dazzling young heir, was the greatest adventure of Yu Youxi's girlhood.

On the day of Yu Youxi's high school graduation ceremony, Li Yan happened to return from abroad for summer vacation. With the lights swaying and a delicate fragrance in the air, his handsome, wickedly charming face, the one she thought about every day, was right before her. His serene, gentle sleeping face suddenly inspired a daring idea in Yu Youxi.

Outside the room, the elders and friends were talking. Yu Youxi gathered her courage and leaned down, her lips fluttering like butterfly wings...

They met again at a bustling airport after Yu Youxi returned home to work following graduation. To her surprise, Li Yan was the one who drove to the airport to pick her up.

In looks, bearing, and ruthless decisiveness in business, he had become even more outstanding than before.

To avoid falling for Li Yan again, Yu Youxi called him "brother."

Hesitating, Yu Youxi reached for the back door and had barely settled into the car when she heard a cold, faintly scornful voice from the front: "I don't drive people around."

Yu Youxi hesitated. "I... was worried your girlfriend might get jealous."

"Don't worry. Your sister-in-law doesn't get jealous of her own younger sister," Li Yan said carelessly.

Yu Youxi felt her heart catch in her throat. She quickly replied, "I was overthinking it..."

-

The Li family had an unspoken rule: everyone had to come home for dinner on Sundays.

Playing with his car keys, Li Yan walked into the dining room. His mother asked him, "How was the lily porridge Xixi brought you yesterday?"

He chuckled, as if savoring the memory. "Sweet."

Yu Youxi sat at the table, her long lashes trembling briefly before she turned her gaze aside, pretending she hadn't heard.

His mother said, "I wanted to call and ask you yesterday, but you didn't answer. Then I had to go out and forgot all about it."

Li Yan's long, sharp eyes curved into a smile, and his voice was full of mirth. "I was busy at the time."

Yu Youxi couldn't help gripping her soup spoon tighter. Her cheeks and the tips of her ears turned red-hot.

You molded a city from mud and said you would marry me one day.

Back then, you tried to recite a script about love, but with your missing tooth, you couldn't pronounce the words right.

Joey Yung, "Little"

A secret crush comes true, wolf-and-rabbit romance, both leads are each other's firsts.

The heroine lives with the hero's family as a foster child, but they are not on the same household registration.

The hero has no ex-girlfriends. Please don't add false warnings.

Mostly set in the city, with very little of the school portion.

#[Expanded Blurb]

When they were in high school, Li Yan's name was legendary at Beijin High School.

Love letters from girls confessing their feelings fell like petals after a rain, too many to count.

Yu Youxi had helped him collect plenty of them too, because she was his "younger sister."

One of Li Yan's buddies, always eager for gossip, asked with a grin, "Yan, who's that girl? Why are you taking such special care of her? Have your tastes changed...?"

Before he could finish, Li Yan kicked him. His brows lifted with a lazy smile, and his thin lips parted to spit out a few words: "Cut the crap. What do you mean, my tastes changed?"

Hearing that, Yu Youxi felt a deep sadness wash over her.

She had been foolish to hope.

-

Work was dull and exhausting, so Yu Youxi went to a club with her friend to unwind. She spotted a man nearby with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, a perfect physique, and went over to talk to him. The two of them danced energetically in the pool, having a great time.

All of it was watched from a distance by a pair of cold, ruthless eyes. Li Yan kept his handsome face cold and didn't say a word all night.

As soon as Yu Youxi entered the house, she saw a tall, imposing figure by the garage. Startled, she instinctively put a hand to her chest.

"Brother, you scared me to death."

She turned to keep walking inside, but the person behind her leaned in and grabbed her wrist tightly.

"Don't call me brother. Who's your brother?"

Please add my next book, The Age of Sixteen, to your favorites!

[Nine-year age gap / Hong Kong flavor / old-school melodrama / coercive romance / old flame rekindled / fake-death story]

When Bai Feizhen first met Cheng Yichuan, she was sixteen, in her second year at Sacred Heart High School.

The club organized a volunteer performance, and Cheng Ze'an was the one who started it.

The school auditorium was being renovated during the break, so everyone went to the Liang family residence for Saturday rehearsals.

The group was having a lively time when Cheng Yichuan returned home.

He was strikingly handsome, with a stern, imposing bearing. His suit was immaculate, his collar perfectly arranged. Thick brows and deep-set eyes gave him an inscrutable air that made people afraid to look too closely.

Even Cheng Ze'an, normally outgoing and bold, became immediately meek in front of his own brother, shrinking like a mouse before a cat. Somewhat awkwardly, he introduced him to his classmates as his eldest brother.

Everyone in Hong Kong knew Cheng Ze'an's eldest brother.

They said he was ruthless and had seized the family business from his paternal uncles after their parents died, becoming a famous shipping tycoon.

They also said he was cruel and merciless, driving his own relatives to leap into the sea and die, and showing no concern as his elders' wives and children ended up on the streets.

And yet, everyone wanted to work for him. They said anyone who served him faithfully would end up with a fortune, a sparrow soaring into the sky.

Bai Feizhen followed the others in hastily bowing to greet him.

Cheng Yichuan's gaze swept over them, cool and indifferent, without a trace of emotion. He gave a slight nod. "Ze'an, look after your classmates."

Bai Feizhen worked up the courage to sneak a glance at him. To her surprise, she met Cheng Yichuan's icy gaze.

His eyes were deep and dark, like a leopard lying in wait to hunt in the shadows, bloodthirsty and deadly.

Her heart tightened.

-

The second time they met was on the day of the performance at the Harbor Wish Plaza. To take shelter from the rain, she ran beneath the statue of a shell maiden, clutching her violin case with her slender, frail body. She would rather get soaked herself than let the case get wet.

Cheng Yichuan's custom-made, bulletproof black car stopped in front of her.

The window rolled down, and his sharply sculpted face suddenly appeared before her. Those dark eyes, bloodthirsty and brimming with deadly danger, fell on her once again.

"Miss Feizhen, Mr. Cheng would like you to get in."

The driver got out into the rain, held an umbrella over her, and invited her into the car at Cheng Yichuan's request.

The ride was long, but they exchanged only two or three sentences.

Cheng Yichuan was concise and blunt about his intentions. "Miss Bai, I can pay for your education."

He had already investigated her family background thoroughly, including how she lived under her uncle's roof, in the attic of the house they rented, and waited each month for a remittance from her parents on the mainland, struggling to get by.

Bai Feizhen stared blankly, her breath catching slightly. She looked down and stayed silent for a long time before asking in a soft, hesitant voice, "...What are your terms?"

Only then did Cheng Yichuan turn to look at the slight girl beside him. At least she was clever.

"You'll live at the Liang residence from now on."

Bai Feizhen stared at him in terror, as if she had encountered a demon that sucked blood and devoured flesh. She didn't dare say another word. Even after she got out by the alley near her uncle's home, her legs were still trembling with fear.

-

They met again two years later, at the anniversary ceremony of Sacred Heart University.

Bai Feizhen's boyfriend, a literature major, was giving a speech onstage as the student representative. She watched him with a proud smile, then gave him the flowers she had prepared when he came down.

Her boyfriend took her hand, and the two of them walked happily out of the auditorium.

Bai Feizhen happened to glance aside and saw Cheng Yichuan, whom she hadn't seen in a long time but could never forget.

He was an honorary alumnus of Sacred Heart University and a longtime generous donor.

That evening, his car stopped in front of her again. The same man from two years earlier respectfully invited her to get in.

Her voice still trembled despite her efforts to steady it. "Thank you for your kindness, but I'm waiting for my boyfriend. I'm afraid we're not going the same way as Mr. Cheng..."

Cheng Yichuan stared straight at her, then suddenly lowered his head and gave a faint, amused laugh.

"It doesn't matter, Miss Bai. One day, you and I will be going the same way."

Bai Feizhen furrowed her brow, unable to understand what he meant.

A month later, the night was as vast as the sea, quiet but surging beneath the surface.

Bai Feizhen stopped his car on the mountain road outside Cheng Yichuan's mansion. He told the driver to open the door for her, then sent him away.

Cheng Yichuan's long, cool fingertips gently slipped her shoulder strap aside. He bit the tip of her ear and spoke in a low voice, like a demon whispering a spell: "Xiao Zhen, tell me, are you doing this willingly?"

Bai Feizhen swallowed her tears of humiliation and choked back a sob. "Mr. Cheng, I'm doing this willingly."

"Call me Yichuan." His voice was an imperious command that brooked no defiance.

"...Yichuan."

Her voice was barely audible, but he heard her and let out a satisfied chuckle.

Bai Feizhen felt that she, and her life, were like a piece of gauze being torn apart, swaying in the storm and on the verge of ripping to shreds.

It was all Cheng Yichuan's doing.

Note: The age of sixteen refers to a girl's youth, like the age of a budding flower.

Content warning: old-school melodrama and coercive romance.

The male lead has very little sense of morality and is highly controlling.

Theme: Love and youth, and the joy of traveling through life together.