Hearthook

[Complete~ Bonus chapters have been updated. Subscribe to 80% of the novel to unlock them for free!

Please check out my upcoming novel, "My Cold and Arrogant Ex-Wife and I Made Pretend Come True." It is expected to start in mid-May~

An official copy costs about as much as half a cup of milk tea. Creating is not easy, so please support the novel if you enjoy it. *I also revise the text frequently, so it differs considerably from pirated copies. I am only responsible to readers of the official version.]

[The emotional reckoning begins in Chapter 27! It gets pretty intense, but my personal writing style is closer to urban romance. I hope you'll read it as an urban romance with an emotional reckoning arc, which should make for a better experience (heart).]

[Clear-eyed realist x crazy, captivating fox. Early on, the cool and devoted younger woman uses all kinds of tactics to seduce the haughty "little mom." Later, the crazy, alluring bottom humbly pursues the clear-eyed, cold-hearted top. The pursuer gets her emotional reckoning.]

Meng Qionghua is a rising power in Shanghai. People say she is arrogant and capricious, that her rise to the top was unsavory, and that she is ruthless and cunning. Even her ex-wife, Qin Wushuang, who doted on her endlessly, got nothing good out of her.

Though she has a face as lovely as jade and the moon, no one dares approach her.

Meng Qionghua is like a swaying snake, always ready to strike anyone who displeases her with venomous fangs.

Few know that four years ago, she was merely a beautiful innocent who married into the Qin family. Her harmless doe eyes bewitched Qin Wushuang so completely that she went against everyone's wishes and married her.

On the day Meng Qionghua entered the household, Qin Wushuang's daughter, Qin Ruyan, watched her future stepmother from the shadows.

This stepmother was only five years older than her, every glance and smile full of allure. Just standing there and gazing at Qin Wushuang with tender affection was enough to captivate everyone.

That night, Qin Ruyan passed through the garden and saw her stepmother meeting her mother in secret.

The two were clearly as sweet as a perfect pair of lovers, yet Qin Ruyan saw a hint of sharpness in her stepmother's doe eyes...

That incongruous glint of keen sharpness lodged in Qin Ruyan's heart, like a speck of dust in a diamond, tiny yet conspicuous.

Only when her mother became a vegetative patient did Qin Ruyan finally understand. That look she had seen that day was called scheming.

They had raised a tiger in their midst, underestimating the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Such was Meng Qionghua's skill that even after divorcing Qin Wushuang, she still managed to take control of the Qin family. She was determined to get rid of Qin Ruyan, the thorn in her side.

Several groups of people came to the house, all hinting that they wanted to marry Qin Ruyan, the beautiful and dazzling yet seemingly harmless orphan, a "prisoner" trapped in a cage, as cold and brilliant as fireworks.

On the eve of her wedding, Qin Ruyan lowered her eyes, steeled her heart, and threw away her dignity. She brought a bottle of red wine and boldly knocked on Meng Qionghua's door for the first time, but not for love.

She ignored Meng Qionghua's mocking, sarcastic gaze, half-kneeling and half-sitting.

Wine poured over her skin, glimmering faintly in the moonlight.

*

Meng Qionghua and her ex-wife's daughter, Qin Ruyan, became entangled. No one dared openly comment on their relationship, but in private, few approved of Qin Ruyan's moth-to-a-flame behavior.

Later, Qin Ruyan cut off Meng Qionghua's supply channels, took away her right-hand people, and crippled most of her power before walking away unscathed.

She thought Meng Qionghua would retaliate against her like a madwoman. Instead, this noble, arrogant woman, who had never once deigned to look up at anyone, frantically searched for her whereabouts. Every word she said revealed that she could not live without Qin Ruyan, that she loved her with all her heart.

"I can save your mother and restore the wealth and power she deserves. Ruyan, all I want is you." Meng Qionghua knelt before Qin Ruyan, trembling as she pleaded in a voice more humble than she had ever shown anyone, humility reaching down to her very bones.

Qin Ruyan's eyes were filled with indifference, like frost falling in the middle of June. "Meng Qionghua, you're mistaken. I never loved you."

*

[The bottom starts suffering in Chapter 20. The official emotional reckoning begins in Chapter 27.]

[Important: The protagonists are not blood-related and are not registered in the same household. No romance develops while they are in a stepmother-stepdaughter relationship. At the start of this novel, the little mom and the female lead's mother have already fallen out and divorced.]

There are no major landmines in this novel, but it may or may not suit your tastes. If it doesn't work for you as you read, feel free to read selectively or stop in time.

The keywords for this couple are probably clear-eyed realist (Qin Ruyan) and crazy, captivating fox (Meng Qionghua).

Risking everything, seemingly heartless yet seeming to feel x calculating every move, yet leaving out only her true feelings

Younger top, with a five-year age gap. Qin Ruyan is the top most of the time, but there will be role reversals, which will be marked in the summaries.

One-on-one, both sexually inexperienced, happy ending, same-sex marriage is legal in this setting, no cheating. The protagonists are not conventional good people, and there are hidden circumstances.

A clarification about the both-sexually-inexperienced tag: The little mom and the original wife certainly had some physical contact, but they did not go further than kissing. The reason will be explained in the novel. The reason there was no cheating will also be explained in the novel.

The protagonists are not blood-related and are not registered in the same household. No romance develops while they are in a stepmother-stepdaughter relationship. At the start of this novel, the little mom and the female lead's mother have already fallen out and divorced.

*

Post-revision rules for the strange tale: If you find a sentence obscure or a nickname strange, please don't be surprised. Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm. Please don't go to Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo.

I must have broken the laws of heaven in my past life to be writing this faux little-mom story in this one.

I asked Buddha, "What exactly did I do wrong?"

Buddha said, "You refuse to see the truth. Go meditate under the review tree for another five hundred years."

Three trips to the confinement room. You still don't understand, yet remain conceited. Every chapter gets heavily reviewed. You get locked up after being struck by the giant treasure, your brain forced to shrink, then locked away in the middle of the night. You repeatedly pick apart your outline, trying to revise the text.

It's not that writing a wholesome story about best friends doesn't earn enough. It's that writing explosive fiction offers better value for money. Write one little novel with a one-star rating, and you can experience the daily life of a five-star big shot getting struck by the giant treasure. Five-star reviewer Ning Jiuwei once commented: "Give me a children's carriage and I can get locked up twenty times in one day. Give me a setup where the little mom gets divorced from the start, and I can make three trips to the giant treasure palace and get locked up."

Theme: Only by resolutely persevering until you achieve your goal can you realize your ideals.