Feigning Restraint

Zhuang Shulu was abandoned at an orphanage as a child. Later, the He family adopted her, bringing her into a world of wealth and extravagance she had never dared to imagine.

Zhuang Shulu only wanted to grow up in peace.

Whenever she saw the man who stood high above everyone else, she would lower her eyes and respectfully address him as "Fourth Brother."

The He family's fourth young master, He Yanting, was ruthless and had no interest in women. He was the youngest head of a powerful family.

But to Zhuang Shulu, he was the kindest and gentlest person in the world.

In a secluded corner where no one else knew, he was the only one who ever asked about her studies.

-

Spring nurtured her beauty. As the girl grew into her looks, she walked beneath the eaves with an umbrella, a vision of breathtaking loveliness.

The He family's spoiled young master, who was well versed in wine and women, began pursuing Zhuang Shulu. The elders doted on him and used moral pressure to force her to give in.

One day, as rain poured down,

the driver pulled up at the entrance. "Will the young miss really come?"

The man slowly polished his glasses, his gaze cool and distant. "Who else can she turn to but me?"

Sure enough, Zhuang Shulu ran over and stopped his car. She looked as if she had just been crying, utterly disheveled. "Please help me, Fourth Brother."

He Yanting lowered the window, his voice steady and detached. "How?"

Zhuang Shulu didn't have time to think. "I want to be your girlfriend."

-

Later, Zhuang Shulu spotted an old photo of herself in her blue-and-white school uniform inside He Yanting's worn-out wallet. In a panic, she stole it.

Watching Zhuang Shulu deliberately distance herself from him, He Yanting took off his glasses and closed in on her step by step. "Shushu, I think you may have imagined me as far too kind."

*A calculating, refined scoundrel x a sensitive, innocent, self-reliant angel. Dominant daddy-like boyfriend / age gap / status gap / adoption trope (no intimate contact before adulthood)

You can also follow my contemporary romance novel in my profile: A Guilty Alliance [Hong Kong Circle] [Possessive Love] [Taboo Romance]

The Tang family was Hong Kong's most prominent clan, and Mrs. Tang, Nie Wanzheng, had long been a favorite subject of media attention.

But the Tang family kept her hidden away. The only photo of her preserved online showed her beside the door of a black car, with a pair of legs emerging from beneath a dark lotus-colored qipao:

Legs as pure as a dream.

Yet alluring enough to sway the heart.

There was a rumor.

Nie Wanzheng's first true love was her stepson, the youngest young master of the Tang family.

But on the day the head of the Tang family was laid to rest,

someone saw Nie Wanzheng escort her husband on his final journey beneath a black umbrella, then get into the car of the Tang family's eldest son, Tang Zongrui.

Tang Zongrui held her chin in one hand and bent down to kiss her.

Nie Wanzheng did not respond at all.

Afterward, she wiped the moisture from her lips. "Tang Zongrui, you're nothing but a rotten man."

Rain from outside the window gleamed in Tang Zongrui's eyes, dark as a snake. He gazed at the person before him with cold indifference.

"I don't care."

"Baby, how many more days are you going to mourn him?"

-

Nie Wanzheng felt that four words were enough to sum up the first half of her life:

No say in her fate.

-

[She had eyes that adored bluebirds, yet no right to fly against the wind.]

Theme: When I dream of you, I hear the snow fall. When you are with me, spring comes alive.