Above the Clouds

[Blurb], New chapters every night at 9 p.m. If there’s no update, I’ll post a notice. Fu Qingyu was a well-known laughingstock among Pingcheng’s elite. Almost everyone in their circle knew that the eldest son of the Zhao family had married her only because she looked like his first love. Even her name contained the character “Yu.” Everyone said Zhao Mengshu had married Fu Qingyu just to have a substitute. Fu Qingyu didn’t care about their mockery and sneers. As his substitute, she rode to work every day in a Maybach with a silver roof. She was the CEO of Jingyi Capital, controlling half the venture capital world. The original Fu Qingyu, meanwhile, had to work outdoors as an assistant to a young star, exposed to wind and sun every day. Whenever they crossed paths, she had to watch the substitute’s face for signs of displeasure. Fu Qingyu had a healthy perspective on things. She had everything Zhao Mengshu had: his body, status, power, and wealth, all shared equally with her. The only thing she couldn’t have was his heart. But his heart was the one thing she needed least. ★ On the day they first met, Fu Qingyu had put on an exquisite makeup look. Peach-shaped eyes, cherry-red lips, and the beauty mark at the corner of her eye carefully concealed. At a glance, every frown and smile made her look just like his first love, Sang Yu. She wore the plain white qipao Sang Yu wore most often, held a bamboo-green oil-paper umbrella, and wore a string of tea-colored Buddhist beads around her wrist. She waited beneath the covered walkway as rain and wind swept through, ready for her fish to take the bait. The doors opened. Bodyguards lined both sides of the corridor as he came out. When he reached her, his steps faltered for a moment. Fu Qingyu turned her cheek toward him, gauging the perfect degree of warmth, and smiled sweetly. She had practiced every detail of that smile in front of a mirror hundreds of times. Sometimes she even wondered if Sang Yu’s soul had possessed her. Fu Qingyu saw the man’s gaze, quiet and unreadable, his manner cool and composed. He didn’t come any closer, only asked, “Your name.” She had even changed her name in advance. Softly, she said, “Qingyu. My name is Fu Qingyu.” Her real name was Fu Xi. ★ Fu Qingyu had never thought that using a substitute’s position as a stepping-stone to climb higher was especially despicable. All her life, she had wanted only to stand at the summit, part the clouds, and glimpse the scenery above them. Being a substitute was simply a shortcut. [Next Book] After My Husband Cheated [Blurb] You won’t be young forever, but someone will always be young. At nineteen, Yu Li met Liang Zongwen for the first time in her father’s study. He was her father’s friend, ten years her senior, gentle, refined, and charming. One glance was all it took for her to fall in love with him. After she pursued him relentlessly, they eventually married. They had been in love for seven years and married for four when she discovered that he was cheating. By then, Yu Li had already secured her place in the family business. Curious and amused, she went to meet the woman her husband was seeing. Liang Zongwen’s new girlfriend was only nineteen, young and inexperienced, plain and thin, thoroughly ordinary. Yu Li sat on the sofa and took out a check, telling the girl to leave her husband. As the head of the group, she had a responsibility to reassure its shareholders by keeping her marriage stable. But the girl answered with haughty confidence, “He likes how young and lively I am. He says you’re like a stagnant pool. You’re not young anymore, so why won’t you make way for me?” Yu Li’s eyes shifted slightly. In the face of time, no one could put up a fight. She was no longer young, but wasn’t Liang Zongwen even older than she was? Yu Li stood and thanked her rival. “Thank you for the reminder.” ★ Cheng Zhuo was the only child of Liang Zongwen’s older sister, and the pride Liang Zongwen was always talking about. One day, Liang Zongwen went to his nephew’s apartment. His ex-wife opened the door. Wrapped in a pure white bath towel, she had delicate, lovely shoulders showing, and faint red marks remained on her fair, swanlike neck. She looked up at him with a gentle smile. “Uncle, is something the matter?” Cheng Zhuo came over with a shawl in his hand, tenderly draped it over her shoulders, then carefully smoothed her damp hair. Without even glancing at his uncle, he said unhurriedly, “Weren’t you tired? Why aren’t you going back to sleep?” Liang Zongwen’s throat burned. A vast wave of hurt swept over him. He felt betrayed, but didn’t know whose betrayal he was angry about. Was it his once-beloved wife? Or his cherished nephew? ★ Liang Zongwen arranged to meet Yu Li and said with self-righteous solemnity, “He’s my sister’s only child. You can’t be with him.” Yu Li smiled. “But he loves me, and we love each other.” Liang Zongwen paused, then raised his deep-set eyes. His voice held a note of pleading. “You’re the woman I love. You can’t be with him.” He had always loved her, both before and after their divorce. Yu Li smiled dismissively. “Just like you, I like younger people too.” If he could like a nineteen-year-old girl, surely there was nothing wrong with her liking a twenty-two-year-old man. She, too, longed to let a young body set fire to the years she had left. [*] The female lead is not a virgin; the male lead is. [*] Older woman/younger man romance, four-year age gap. [*] The ex-husband chases his wife after the breakup; they don’t get back together. One man and one woman as the central couple. Theme: Strive for excellence