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Cool, mature man x passionate young woman / 12-year age gap / intense romantic tension / explicit sex
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Hot topic on Zhihu: What's it like to fall in love with someone you can never be with?
The most-liked answer was anonymous: "He's the older brother who raised me, even though we're not related by blood."
The poster said that when she was ten, her mother and stepfather died in an accident. Her stepbrother gave up his dreams and returned from abroad to take care of her. Over the years, he'd treated her almost like his own daughter.
She ended with: "Maybe I'm just too greedy, but I still can't help feeling sad."
The post wasn't particularly popular at first, but someone revealed that the poster was none other than Tong Nuo, a rising star in the entertainment industry.
As it happened, Tong Nuo had been involved in a previous rumor.
After the male lead's fans in a project she'd acted in had attacked her online and sent her trending, an entertainment reporter had photographed her late at night on the street, crying in a man's arms. He was gently comforting her, and the scene was beautiful enough to look like a movie poster.
The company issued a statement saying he was her brother, and the matter died down.
This time, curious netizens quickly dug up the fact that her brother was Meng Qianze, president of the Zhongsheng Group.
Meng Qianze had studied medicine as an undergraduate, then interrupted his graduate studies abroad and returned to China. Under his leadership, a little-known company became one of the industry's top businesses. He was both capable and shrewd.
What's more, the few photos of him that were available showed a tall, elegant young man with a distinguished face. He was the ultimate rich, handsome bachelor.
The story shot to the top of the trending searches, and everyone exclaimed, "Isn't this even more exciting than a TV drama?"
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In the Zhongsheng Group conference room, an assistant nervously walked in to report on the trending topic.
Meng Qianze remained expressionless. "Send it to Lawyer Song to handle."
Just then, Tong Nuo called, her voice tentative. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"
The man's voice was cool and distant. "What do you want me to say?"
After the meeting, Meng Qianze sat alone in the enormous conference room, unusually silent for a long while. He picked up his phone again and again, rereading every word of the anonymous response.
At last, he let out a sigh so faint it was almost imperceptible.
"After a butterfly is soaked by the tide, it can no longer fly. So he won't let the butterfly hear the tide surging inside him."
A story about a man so rational and repressed that he holds himself back, and holds himself back, and holds himself back, until at last he can't anymore.
*An old house catches fire, but the flames must stay hidden.
Theme: Believe in love
