Winter in Old Beijing

☆ A powerful Beijing socialite and a female student, with a coming-of-age romance

☆ Ten-year age gap, class divide

After her family fell on hard times, Zhang Yutong's father had no choice but to head north and ask an old friend for help.

He said she was coming to Beijing to study and asked his friend to look after her.

Behind a crabapple tree, the girl stood slender and fair-skinned, her lotus-petal face now strikingly beautiful. She was slim and graceful, her eyes sparkling as she looked around. Yet there was stubbornness and a hint of hostility in her gaze as she looked at him.

He turned the teacup in his hand, his expression unreadable.

"Then I'll be counting on you," Zhang's father said, bowing humbly, every gesture marked by caution.

Though they had once been classmates, their social standing was now worlds apart.

-

Zhang Yutong disliked Guan Xiangling. He wore the polished facade of a gentleman, but beneath it he was cold, ruthless, and keenly aware of class distinctions. He was best at throwing his power around, and held few people in high regard.

When her father fell from power, he had stood by and profited from the situation. He had taken her in for the sake of his reputation, nothing more.

But there was no denying that he had become her protector.

She was a delicate flower sheltered beneath his sturdy tree. Though she was breathtakingly beautiful, the belle of the capital, no one dared covet her.

Everyone said Mr. Guan was refined and gentlemanly, with no interest in women. But rumors were everywhere, claiming he was only cultivating a good name for himself, and that he was keeping the little peony for his own pleasure. Some even claimed they had seen him grip the girl's soft waist and tease her until she cried. The stories were so detailed they sounded almost true.

Guan Xiangling merely smiled, paying them no mind.

But something took root beneath the once-innocent bond between uncle and niece, quietly sprouting in secret.

Then the two crossed a line, and there was no turning back.

With a single thought, one could become a Buddha or a demon.

From then on, he was no longer a Buddha without desire.

When she learned he had a fiancée and would soon be getting married, she left the country, heartbroken.

When they met again, a beautiful woman stood at his side, smiling brightly.

Not wanting to lose face, she greeted him with a smile and casually introduced the boy beside her, her arm linked through his: "Let me introduce you. This is my boyfriend. You haven't met him yet, have you?"

Guan Xiangling's expression did not change. Holding a cup of tea, he looked at her through the swirling steam and smiled. "Look at you, growing up. You don't even have to report to me before you start dating now?"

☆ The heroine has a one-sided crush on the hero. She's insecure at first, then he has to win her back.

☆ Both leads have only ever been with each other. The hero has never married.

Theme: Let go of your prejudices about others. The world is more beautiful when you see it with an open heart.