The Rebellious City

Before she turned twenty-eight, her marriage to Yan Chuan was a fortress that sheltered Xie Xiyu from the storms of life.

Her husband, Yan Chuan, was a handsome, wealthy law firm partner. It was as if gold had fallen from the sky and landed right in her arms. Xie Xiyu treasured and protected him, hoping their security would be unbreakable.

After she turned twenty-eight, Xie Xiyu understood one thing: whether someone loves you or not is revealed by comparison.

She had always thought Yan Chuan knew nothing of romance and cared only about work. But it turned out he understood more than she thought. When an old lover returned, the comparison made it obvious who mattered more.

Xie Xiyu cherished security, but she cherished her self-respect, too.

The marriage she had held onto for four years, the fortress she once thought unbreakable, had long been overrun by old vines before she even noticed.

When there was nowhere left to stand, she could only abandon the city and flee.

Jiang Yuhui first met Xie Xiaoyu when he was seventeen.

After his parents divorced and separated, he was assigned to live with his father. Fleeing domestic abuse, he secretly went to his mother's home, where he met the tutor who had come to teach his younger sister, Jiang Yueshi.

Twenty-year-old Xie Xiaoyu was as gentle as a summer night breeze. She tended to his wounds, and when she looked at him, her eyes brimmed with sympathy.

She taught him to fight back against the abuse and told him how to take control of his own life. She said she was just like him, a child no one wanted. The difference was that at least his mother still loved him, while she had nothing.

Seventeen-year-old Jiang Yuhui was immersed in her tenderness. Only when he grew up did he understand that she hadn't been gentle with him so much as with the younger version of herself she saw in him.

When he saw Xie Xiaoyu again, she was already another man's wife.

Cinderella had married her Prince Charming and moved into the fortress of marriage she'd always dreamed of, yet she didn't seem all that happy.

Jiang Yuhui realized he might not be as kind as he thought. The moment he saw her again, his dark desires began to take root and grow.

He lingered beneath the walls of her fortress, watching and waiting, hoping the cracks would grow wider. When the day came that she finally stepped out, he would have everything ready and slowly make her his.

Theme: Self-respect and self-love