A girl with a crush x a powerful family heir (Please add my next book, Sweet Lychee, to your reading list!)
When Ruan Ning was ten, she was living under someone else's roof, locked away in a dark storage room. She was so thin and frail she looked like a six- or seven-year-old child.
Xi Yi kicked the door open, frightening her abuser into trembling.
To her, Xi Yi was like a god sent down from heaven.
So when she was twelve and asked about her dream in Chinese class, she answered word by word: "I want to marry Uncle Xi."
When the words reached Xi Yi, he didn't take them seriously. He only patted Ruan Ning's head. "Children say all sorts of things. Don't say that again."
At eighteen, using a snowstorm that had closed the roads as an excuse, she pretended to be innocent and booked a themed hotel. The room was bathed in hazy light, the atmosphere seductive.
Xi Yi paid it no mind. He pulled a practice exam from her bag and tossed it onto the table, his voice low and cool. "Finish it. I'll check your answers."
"..."
Then, after a twist of fate led to one wild night, his eyes were full of anger and gloom at having been manipulated.
She only smiled as she pointed a knife at her own heart. "Even after all this, you still won't say 'I love you' to comfort me, Uncle Xi?"
In the end, he couldn't bring himself to say those words.
But later, everyone knew that the young lady the Xi family had taken in halfway through life had mysteriously disappeared. The second young master of the Xi family, usually steady despite his iron-fisted ways, nearly went mad searching every inch of the capital.
//
The day they met again in a foreign land, traffic surged along a London boulevard.
Xi Yi ordered the driver to stop, got out on his own, and carried the "culprit" who had caused trouble and then run off back to the car over one shoulder.
Ruan Ning struggled in shock. "Xi Yi, let go! This is kidnapping! You... Help!"
Xi Yi sneered. "Not calling me Uncle?"
Ruan Yining refused to back down. "We agreed to cut ties. You're not my uncle anymore."
"Good. Then we don't have to worry about our seniority." Xi Yi gave the driver an address in fluent English, then tugged at his tie and swore for the first time. "That way, I won't fucking go soft on you later."
#Even if it's hell, we'll fall into it together#
* The leads are not blood-related.
* Eight-year age gap.
Next book, Sweet Lychee:
[A powerful, calculating, mature male lead x a female lead who deliberately approaches him and grows over time]
Everyone in Beicheng's elite circles knew that Cen Yan was the pampered songbird kept by Gao Tingshen.
Even when she named an absurdly high price for a patch of wasteland at an auction, he merely raised an eyebrow. "Good way to build your nerve."
Some onlookers even thought they saw a hint of approval in his eyes.
It was as if Cen Yan could blow a hole in the sky and he'd patch it up for her while praising her for being capable.
Little did they know, Cen Yan had gone to such lengths to get close to him only because she'd heard he had a first love in his heart.
She was just waiting for that first love to come back, so she could make a swift exit.
*
Two years later, the rumored first love of Gao Tingshen returned to the country in grand fashion.
With long, slightly curled hair, she was confident and disdainful. "You think you can steal him from me after just two years?"
"No, I can't," Cen Yan said, shaking her head through tears. "All I can do is take the villas, shops, luxury apartments, and enough savings to last me a lifetime that he gave me."
Rich and beautiful, and no need to pretend to be a silly songbird. Just thinking about it made her happy!!
That night, the moon shone faintly, while lamplight cast a discreet glow over the romantic room.
Cen Yan carefully lifted one corner of the blanket. She had just touched the floor with her toes when the man's deep voice sounded behind her. "You're done with me now that you've had your fun?"
She froze, not knowing what to do. The man stretched out an arm, pulled her by her slender waist, and pinned her beneath him with overwhelming strength.
He chuckled. "Yan Yan, who said you could walk away unscathed without my permission?"
He had known all along that her intentions were impure, but he still played dumb and let her have her way.
The price she had to pay, though, was a lifetime.
Theme: No one in the world loves her more than he does
