Ride the Wave

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1.

Xu Chengyi and Lin Hongzhou were childhood sweethearts, so close they seemed destined to marry. At least, that was what all their friends thought.

So when Lin Hongzhou cheated, everyone tacitly agreed to keep it from Xu Chengyi.

It was pouring that night. Xu Chengyi had acute gastroenteritis and was in so much pain she could barely think. She wanted to ask Lin Hongzhou to take her to the hospital.

The next moment, he opened the door. "There's a serious problem with a case at work. I have to go deal with it."

Before she could say a word, the door closed.

She called a friend afterward. The friend felt sorry for her and cursed Lin Hongzhou for being a piece of garbage.

Xu Chengyi was in so much pain she was close to passing out, but she still defended him. "Something came up at work. It's not his fault."

2.

When you feel unloved, you can check his phone.

Xu Chengyi did. And there she saw a message from her old friend:

"I think Chengyi's starting to suspect you and Wu Xue! Can you be more careful?"

Lin Hongzhou replied, "Don't go blabbing about things you shouldn't say."

Friend: "Now you're threatening me? Believe me, I'll tell Chengyi every last one of your dirty little secrets."

Lin Hongzhou: "I won't say it again."

"..."

Everyone knew. Everyone had kept it from her.

Xu Chengyi was ice-cold all over. She leaned against the corner of the bed, without even the strength to stand. In the empty house, she cried as if her heart would break.

3.

The first time Zhang Ze'an met Xu Chengyi, she was dressed to perfection, her eyes red and tear stains still on her face.

As her temporary driver, Zhang Ze'an thought with amusement: She looks just like someone who's gone bankrupt and is about to jump off a building.

He approached her for his own benefit. From the little she said, he learned that she'd been going through an especially difficult time. Anyone else might not have survived it.

But apart from losing weight, she seemed unchanged.

When the company began its recruitment drive for the new year, she applied too. Perhaps out of guilt, he pulled her resume despite the rules.

Unfortunately, she didn't meet his standards.

He couldn't get her in through the back door.

Later, he told her, "I'm the one who's interested in you now. You can make use of me. You don't have to worry about my feelings."

4.

On Monday, Xu Chengyi started her new job at Luo'an Fund.

Her coworker at the next desk said scornfully, "Honestly, if you're Zhang Ze'an's lover, couldn't you at least get him to give you some better opportunities?"

Xu Chengyi: "I swear, we're just friends."

Coworker: "I saw you kissing."

Xu Chengyi: "..."

Reader's guide:

1. The first male lead pursues his wife, while the second male lead takes the lead. Both have significant roles, and the pace is slow at first. The heroine is not the second male lead's first. The male leads are numbered by order of appearance. Zhang Ze'an is the official pairing, and they are both pure in body and heart.

2. This is not an empowering heroine's wish-fulfillment story. The heroine grows stronger gradually. She's weak at first, and only becomes as strong as a real person could. The endings for the third male lead and the childhood sweetheart ex are terrible. I won't say more to avoid spoilers.

3. Every character has flaws. They're all chasing fame and fortune. Readers who are extreme character stans, please stay away.

4. This is entertainment, and the content is entirely fictional. Just enjoy it and don't take it too seriously.

Here is the blurb for The Eagle in the Cage:

1.

In a luxury apartment in the city center, points of neon light were reflected in the floor-to-ceiling windows. A glance upward offered a view of the city's landmark buildings.

Li Zhiyu glanced at the man before her, who was more accurately a boy. A hint of amusement flashed in her long, foxlike eyes. "What are you doing here?"

The boy's eyes flickered. He lowered his brows, hiding his humiliation, and muttered, "I'll agree to what you asked me that day."

Li Zhiyu didn't care. "Agree to what?"

Humiliation almost burst from the boy's eyes, but the next second, his head drooped in defeat. "Agree... to your sponsorship."

His voice was hoarse and strained, as though saying those few words might cost him half his life.

Li Zhiyu gave a soft laugh, then padded toward him barefoot, folding her arms as she sized him up. Her voice was gentle, yet cruel. "But I've changed my mind!"

The boy jerked his head up, disbelief filling his eyes. His lips moved, but no words came out.

Her perfectly manicured nails traced his jawline, then slowly moved down, barely grazing his neck before stopping at his collarbone. The air was thick with tension. Li Zhiyu tapped his collarbone twice, like the final notes of a piano piece.

"You can leave."

She turned away, making her meaning clear.

Li Zhiyu admitted that she'd only made that teasing offer because everyone in the industry seemed to have someone to carry their bags. She hadn't expected it to turn into such a big deal.

The boy didn't leave. He stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, his lean figure out of place against the scattered neon lights.

Naturally, Li Zhiyu thought of the bamboo outside her childhood home.

Trembling lightly in the breeze, bent but unbroken.

"If you're willing, I'll work hard to become the kind of person you like," the boy said urgently.

Li Zhiyu laughed softly. "All right."

2.

Xie Ying had no idea what Li Zhiyu was thinking. She offered to sponsor him, then refused. After agreeing, she rejected his efforts. When he thought she was good, she would do something bad. When he thought she was bad, she would make his heart tremble with kindness.

Rationally, he should have hated her for taking advantage of his circumstances, but emotionally...

Torn between conflicting feelings, Xie Ying thought bitterly that one day he'd make Li Zhiyu experience what it was like to be at someone else's mercy, with the other person holding all the cards.

Just when he thought they'd spend their lives entangled, each with their own agenda, he suddenly heard that Li Zhiyu was getting married. The groom was said to be the man she'd desperately loved but never won over as a girl.

Xie Ying felt like a fish that had bitten the bait. The angler had reeled him in and let him out without his knowing, and he'd even smugly believed he was playing a game with her.

Watch her marry someone else? Ha. Not a chance!

After everything Li Zhiyu had done, how could she just walk away? He'd suffered, and he wouldn't let her off easy either.

Many years later, Xie Ying finally rose to the top and returned home in glory.

Eventually, a friend could no longer bear to watch his antics and said,

"So your overwhelming hatred means you won't even let her eat? The way you threatened her back then, I thought you were going to block every possible escape route, then make her experience what it was like to depend on others, just like you did!"

Xie Ying, now grown out of his boyishness, sat on his desk. His metal glasses glinted coldly as he reviewed documents without looking up. "What would you know? I have my own pace."

Friend: "..." Your pace is just walking behind her with a rope in your own hands.

A wealthy young lady with a complicated family history vs. a poor, prideful student from a humble family

Theme: Hardship is temporary. The light belongs to you and me