A Sultry Spring Night

[Please add my next book, Desire's Sting, to your reading list.]

[Powerful man falls hard | 11-year age gap | Raising her | Daddy vibes]

Mature daddy X innocent sweetheart

"All youth is like a lamp, knocked over in the rain, soaked through, yet still burning.", Pablo Neruda

-

Jiang Zhier had been by Cheng Jingwei's side since she was sixteen.

At someone's request, he cared for her year after year. He taught her to be tactful and cautious, and taught her not to fear the road ahead.

As her "second uncle," he was beyond reproach.

But a young girl's first stirrings of love blossomed quietly on a sultry spring night.

On her coming-of-age day, she finally mustered the courage to confess her ardent feelings, only for the man to quash them with: "You just became an adult and you're already getting cheeky with me?"

-

As the youngest head of an ultra-wealthy family, Cheng Jingwei was old-fashioned and composed, ruthless in his dealings.

Rumors swirled, but whatever the case, Cheng Jingwei's life was sure to stay on track, smooth sailing without a single misstep.

Cheng Jingwei thought so too.

It never occurred to him that one day

all his manners, gentlemanly grace, refinement, and the calm self-control his family had instilled in him would crumble years later when he saw the young man at Jiang Zhier's side.

In the dim entryway, he used his long, slender fingers to stroke her lips for the first time. "Has that little boyfriend of yours taught you how to kiss?"

"Cheng Jingwei, what does this make you?"

Jiang Zhier gritted her teeth, her eyes red, and told him word by word, "It makes you the other man."

The man who had always been proud and powerful, standing at the peak of authority, lowered his head and answered her word by word.

"Choose me."

"Don't choose him."

The sword of Damocles hanging over her head finally fell.

The young woman who had long chased love without ever gaining it at last held the sword herself, with the power of life and death in her hands.

-

Jiang Zhier hated being controlled by him.

Once, when he found her diary, she denied having a secret crush. He reprimanded her and told her not to lie.

Later, when he came back from a business trip, he sat her on his lap and asked if she'd missed him. She said no, and he reprimanded her again.

Worse, he raised his hand and gave her a hard smack on her skirt.

With a stern expression, the man took on the air of an elder reprimanding a child and made her correct her bad habit.

"How can a little girl lie?"

-

Please add my next book, Desire's Sting, to your reading list.

As soon as Yun Tan returned home, her family arranged a blind date with Lu Wushan.

Lu Wushan was famous throughout the capital. He wielded tremendous power and was ruthless in his methods. Most people couldn't even get a chance to meet him, and on top of that, he had a face that was both noble and aloof.

Going on a blind date with a man like that, let alone whether her family was "selling their daughter," could only end in humiliation for someone who overestimated herself.

Besides, although Yun Tan had an exquisite face, she was cold and unfeeling, and had no idea how to play along.

Everyone in their social circle was waiting to see her make a fool of herself.

-

But that night, in the Lu family's private residence, under the bright lights, the man forcefully made Yun Tan sit on the sofa.

A man of immeasurable wealth bent down before her and held her ankle as he put on her shoes.

Her ankle was pale and fragile, trembling faintly like a lamb's.

"What are you afraid of?" The man's voice was steady, unruffled. "When you left, didn't you think this day might come?"

Yun Tan gritted her teeth. "I'm not afraid."

She struggled because she didn't want to keep sitting on that sofa. Her whole body felt like it was on fire.

Lu Wushan paused, then inexplicably chuckled.

No one knew.

That summer after the college entrance exams, they had embraced so passionately, again and again, that they soaked this very sofa.

-

Yun Tan knew how unforgivable it had been to leave without a word all those years ago.

Lu Wushan had every right to hate her.

But she never expected that night, as Lu Wushan sat beside the bed with his palm against her cheek, his eyes would still hold hatred while he said, "Yun Tan, will you marry me?"

His voice was like a sigh, like a surrender, as he let go of every last shred of pride.

Reader's guide:

1. 1v1, both leads' first and only, happy ending, male lead isn't a scumbag.

2. The leads aren't related by blood, and their mutual romance begins once they're both adults.

3. The "little boyfriend" in the blurb is a misunderstanding. The male lead is not the other man.

4. The story of an old-fashioned man discovering desire, going from the moral high ground to rock bottom.

Blurb archived on 2023.5.19, revised and archived on 2024.8.28.

Theme: Love takes courage.