A Burning Fever

The companion novel, Playing Hard to Get, is now available! ■ Rekindled love | Reunion after years apart | Intense push and pull | Difference in status ■ Impoverished, coldhearted stray x straightforward, sweet heiress Weibo: @Is Chunbai Shen Yuan was born into a prominent family and was the apple of her brothers' eyes. Yi Shen was poor and had a hard life. They came from two different worlds. He had an unknown background, and was cold and heartless, a rough, arrogant stray. Most importantly, Yi Shen was famous for being the sworn enemy of Shen Yuan's second brother. Everyone told Shen Yuan not to chase after him. It would never work. That night, Yi Shen gripped her arm and smiled lazily. "Shen Yuan, stop making trouble for me." Shen Yuan, who always preached about manners and propriety, summoned all her courage and rose on tiptoe to press her lips to his. Yi Shen's mind went completely blank. 2/ No one had expected that Yi Shen, a proud, beastlike loner, would be chased and clung to by Shen Yuan until she made him hers. He listened to her and her alone. Still, their breakup was no surprise to anyone. Shen Yuan dumped Yi Shen, and the whole affair was explosive. The night they broke up, a torrential rain fell. Yi Shen stood outside her home all night with a terrifying look in his eyes, drenched to the bone and never moving once. 3/ Years later, when they met again, Yi Shen had become a man of power and wealth. Everywhere he went, people bowed and tried to please him. He no longer spared her a glance, and he would never look back. Shen Yuan hurried after him, not watching where she was going. Her fine jewelry scattered across the floor. As her pale fingers searched wildly over the carpet, her vision suddenly blurred. Then someone approached with a formidable presence and crouched down at a suitable distance. A watch-wearing hand picked up an opal. "Getting married soon?" Shen Yuan looked up. "Why are you still following me?" "What is it," Yi Shen said sharply, his fingers clenching the gemstone until his knuckles turned white, his phoenix eyes fixed on her with deep, indifferent intensity. "Are you addicted to chasing me?" Video game company owner x jewelry designer Special thanks to Ming Ye for creating the cover. The title, Heated, is a gemstone industry term. Gemstones undergo natural changes under high temperatures. "Heated" refers to treating a gemstone by raising its temperature, which brings lasting improvements to qualities such as color, transparency, and clarity, enhancing its aesthetic value. - * The wealthy-family setting is entirely fictional. This is indulgent romance, so please don't judge it by real-world standards. The plot gets a little melodramatic in the middle and later parts. If the genre or writing style isn't for you, feel free to move on. Please be gentle with the author T^T * Each lead is the other's first love, and both are virgins. They have no other romantic experiences during their five-year breakup. * Both leads have their own charms. The heroine is sweet but not weak. The hero is not a "swearing, cocky guy". There is no "I" or "your grandpa" in his dialogue. See the first chapter's author's note for detailed content warnings. Please add the next companion novel, Playing Hard to Get, to your reading list! ■ Rekindled love | Reunion after years apart | A chase ■ Poor, innocent girl supported by a benefactor x refined, wicked fox of a man Before meeting Qi Xing, Ye Fuqiu did not believe that two people could be natural enemies. The day she was brought into the Qi family home, he leaned against a high place and looked down at her. That one glance was enough to make Ye Fuqiu forget how to breathe. Qi Xing had a pair of sharp phoenix eyes, frightening yet often filled with an inscrutable smile. He made her feel inexplicably chilled. Qi Xing was the eldest son of the richest family in Xiaoyue Bay. Ye Fuqiu was just a poor girl from the north, living as a boarder on someone else's charity. He was born bad to the bone, while she was naive and innocent. They stood at opposite ends of their social circle. He looked down on her, and she feared him from afar. Their relationship changed the night Ye Fuqiu tried to sneak into his study and he caught her. She dared to confront him. He listened to all her threats with casual indifference, then smiled. Ye Fuqiu's face turned deathly pale. Qi Xing curled his lips. His phoenix eyes shone frighteningly bright as he repeated her name. "Ye Fuqiu, is that right?" Like a hunter who had set his sights on his prey. 2- The night before she left the Qi family home, a typhoon raged outside. She sat slumped on the carpet in his study, but no matter how far she backed away, she could not put any distance between them. Qi Xing seized her slender wrist. Ye Fuqiu struggled, eyes brimming with tears, and cursed him to his face. After listening, Qi Xing forcefully placed her hand against his collar and rubbed her fingertips over it. He smiled. "How about I teach you one more bad thing?" Ye Fuqiu's heart trembled. 3- Ye Fuqiu thought Qi Xing would never again be part of her life. Until the fourth year, on a snowy night in Binyang, he appeared in front of her on the night a male friend confessed his feelings to her. The man who hated the cold had snow covering his shoulders. He stood at the mouth of the alley she was passing, his eyes black, intense, and uncertain. She struggled to breathe. "You promised you would never show up again." Qi Xing slowly lowered his gaze to the vivid red roses in Ye Fuqiu's arms, the corners of his eyes lifting. "I did." "Call it breaking my promise." Please add the novel after next, After Sitting Next to My Ex at a Conveyor-Belt Hot Pot Restaurant. ■ Short story | Rekindled love | Everyday flirtation between adults ■ Arrogant, sharp-tongued professional man x unlucky, easygoing sweetheart Ming Que had moved to the big city on her own, lost her job, and been cheated on. She had reached the darkest point in her life. Short on cash, she had to keep lowering her standards. On the day she got dumped, a blizzard hit, so she ducked into a conveyor-belt hot pot restaurant famous for its low prices. Despite the awful weather, the little restaurant was packed. After waiting an hour, and nearly fainting from hunger, she was finally given a single seat in the middle of the counter. The seats at the conveyor-belt restaurant were so close their occupants' arms brushed. The moment Ming Que sat down and turned her head, she met Lou Yuzheng's dark eyes. The man wore a black turtleneck sweater. His hand around his cup was pale and beautiful, and his gaze was cold. Only then did Ming Que realize that life had an even darker point: the Pro Max version. That was when she ran into her rich fourth-generation ex, whom she had hurt and toyed with. Ming Que knew that look of Lou Yuzheng's all too well. It clearly said he wanted to beat someone up. Ming Que wanted to die. She gave him a miserable smile. "If you want to settle the score... could you at least let me finish my last meal?" After a long pause, Lou Yuzheng raised a hand and pointed at her. "Bring her another plate of meat." Ming Que: "..." Thank you so much. 2/ From then on, she kept running into him after work when she went out to eat. Somehow, every time, they happened to sit next to each other. Ming Que owed him a debt of affection and felt guilty about it at every turn. So day after day, their shoulders brushed as they ate together in the steamy little restaurant. The first time, he said, "My family went bankrupt. This is all I can afford." Ming Que sighed and reluctantly paid to add a plate of meat to his order. The second time, he said, "My lease is up. I have nowhere to sleep tonight." Ming Que struggled to slide her apartment key toward him. "My landlord has another room... I can introduce you." Two servers huddled together, completely baffled. "...Has the boss gone crazy?" The day Ming Que saw through all of Lou Yuzheng's lies, she flung a string of angry words at him. Once she had finished venting, he sent her a single message on WeChat. It simply said: [So why did you ask to break up back then?] Theme: Study hard