Daylight and Nightfall

My next book will be "Lost in Secret". Please add it to your reading list.

Su Enyou never imagined that her relationship with the young nephew of the Duan family would have anything to do with his uncle.

Duan Huaixu was a thoroughly rational, gentle gentleman, seemingly immune to anyone's charms.

The last time they met was three years ago, late at night during winter break at university. Enyou and her boyfriend had been partying in the snow, and she stumbled out drunk with their friends.

Through bleary, drunken eyes, she saw a Bentley Continental and a tall man in an overcoat standing beside it.

Like a kitten caught sneaking around by an elder, she was so embarrassed her hands and feet went numb. She stood up straight and politely followed her boyfriend in saying, "Hello, Uncle."

He nodded, his response cool but courteous.

But years later, after she and her boyfriend broke up, she unexpectedly became involved with that uncle.

On a dark night thick with dew, a deep gray Bentley pulled up beside her.

In the dimly lit back seat, that familiar figure sat leaning back. He was still wearing the black overcoat from earlier, with several documents beside him. He was working intently, without even looking up.

But his driver had already said politely, "Miss Su, it's difficult to get a taxi right now. Our gentleman would like to give you a ride."

She hesitated and made a tactful excuse. "I don't think we're going the same way."

The driver still smiled modestly. "Wherever you're going tonight, sir will take you."

Su Enyou knew she had no room to refuse. Gritting her teeth, she smoothed her skirt and got in.

-

Duan Huaixu was thirty, a man of few passions, and he had never stopped for anyone.

After half a lifetime among the powerful, he had become someone even his own family feared.

He knew people ought to be independent and upright in character. When it came to love especially, a gentleman should be as gentle as jade, never steal another's beloved or exert undue control.

But after meeting Su Enyou, every last trace of his gentlemanly conduct crumbled away.

The first time he saw her was on the theater stage during her freshman year. The young woman played the lead actress in a scene called "A Stunning Encounter by the Pavilion." She was youthful and fresh-faced, with a plump, lovely figure and an indefinable spirit.

Duan Huaixu sat watching below the stage, turning two collector's walnuts in his hand without revealing a thing. Yet when the performance ended, the delicate voice of that beauty onstage rang out in his heart twice for no reason at all.

The next time he saw her, she was his nephew's girlfriend, there to greet him with a "Hello, Uncle."

Looking at her face, Duan Huaixu knew in his heart that he was probably beyond saving.

Older man and younger woman / long-planned pursuit / Marriage Before Love / slow-burn daily-life push and pull / eight-year age gap

Gentle, possessive, secretly scheming man × clear-headed, rational sweetheart

The main story begins six months after the heroine's breakup

Heroine's perspective: Marrying her ex-boyfriend's uncle

The setting is fictional. Some place names are real, but please don't associate them with reality. A story about everyday life.

-

Blurb for "Lost in Secret":

Wen Song grew up in the Yu family in the capital district. Gentle by nature, she studied traditional painting and calligraphy, and was a rare beauty.

Rumor had it that Wen Song's arranged match was the Yu family's carefree, spoiled young master. With the wedding approaching, the arrogant young man declared, "Just you wait. I'm not marrying that unwanted orphan."

Everyone knew the Wen family had fallen into decline. Even Wen Song had only been able to secure a place in the Yu household because the old master Yu had helped her in the past.

For a time, everyone in their social circle waited to laugh at the gentle beauty's misfortune. But on the wedding day, someone saw a black Maybach S650 parked outside the Wen family's private residence.

The car door was half open. A graceful woman in a qipao sat on the lap of a man in a black suit, nestled against him as he wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her until she was breathless.

As if he sensed someone watching, he turned to look outside. His long, cool eyes unmistakably belonged to the Yu family's reclusive, powerful Seventh Master, Yu Chengli.

-

No one knew why that aloof, noble Yu family uncle had taken over his nephew's engagement and married the unwanted orphan from the Wen family.

People in the capital assumed Yu Chengli had simply been dazzled by her beauty for a moment.

They figured Wen Song had probably been the one to pursue this marriage.

That was, until a grand gathering of the elite, when a popular actress tried to put Wen Song in her place, sneering, "The Wen family fell ages ago. Who do you think you are to attend a gathering with us?"

The man casually took his coat and draped it over Wen Song's shoulders. His gaze was languid, but his low voice carried weight. "I wonder, does my status qualify?"

After that, no one ever saw the actress in high society again. Rumor had it that a powerful figure in the industry had blacklisted her.

-

Wen Song had always thought their marriage was simply a matter of mutual benefit. He helped her deal with the arranged marriage, and she only needed to be a good Mrs. Yu.

One night, Wen Song wanted to clarify the true nature of their marriage. She hesitated before speaking. "Seventh Uncle..."

Before she could finish, he gently lifted her chin with his knuckles. Yu Chengli wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his embrace, saying softly, "Song Song, didn't I tell you to stop calling me that after we got married?"

"I'm not your seventh uncle. I never was."

She would never know how many sleepless nights the seemingly flawless Seventh Master of the Yu family had spent consumed by his obsessive desire for her.

It was only much later, when Wen Song saw the marriage contract between their families and found Yu Chengli's name written on it from the very beginning, that she learned his longing for her had long since sunk into his bones.

Obsessive, domineering tycoon × cool, caged songbird

Marriage Before Love / long-planned rise to power / possessive pursuit / the hero has secretly loved her

Theme: Keep a positive attitude and live well