Green Feather

Cheng Jingzhi finally sees Chu Yi, the poor boyfriend who disappeared four years ago.

Now he's the powerful head of the Chu Group, and at a banquet he pretends not to know her.

She already has a fiance, too, and plays along with their little first-meeting act.

As her fiance tells her about President Chu's illustrious family and impressive abilities, Cheng Jingzhi silently turns her earring, feeling that she was hopelessly stupid.

Later, her fiance takes her to invite President Chu to dinner. After the meal, her fiance anxiously searches for her outside a wall.

Inside, President Chu, who had been utterly indifferent just moments before, asks in a coaxing tone, "When are you calling off the engagement?"

She smiles brightly. "Be patient a little longer."

/

At the racetrack, he makes a show of holding her close in the VIP room, where everything is visible through the glass windows.

Furious, she rakes her long nails across his neck, leaving a scratch.

He doesn't move away, only teasing her with a crooked smile. "No one can see us from outside."

But just as a server opens the door, someone passing by catches sight of a familiar head of dark hair.

They turn and send Qiao Yanjin a message: [Bro, I think I just saw your fiancee.]

Qiao Yanjin goes to confront Chu Yi, but his punch misses.

Chu Yi's expression remains unchanged as he says coolly, "How does a loser have the nerve to show his face?"

/

To the outside world, President Chu is decisive and ruthless, with piercing eyes that conceal a deep cunning. He's a hard man who clawed his way to the top by putting profit first.

Yet he invests in a little studio with no real prospects.

When someone asks what business opportunity he's spotted this time, they see a photo of the studio's founder tucked inside his wallet.

His gaze darkens, and he says despondently, "So I can stay with her for a long, long time."

The studio thrives, and once everything is stable, Cheng Jingzhi kicks Chu Yi to the curb.

Beneath the covered walkway at midnight, Chu Yi leans against the doorway and catches the hem of Cheng Jingzhi's clothes. His eyes are as clear as they were back then. "Please don't leave me, okay?"

Cheng Jingzhi is resolute in her decision to go. He gently takes her hand. "The scratches on my back haven't faded yet."

Cheng Jingzhi: "So?"

"They're a mark. Now that I'm marked, I can only be yours."

[Reading Guide]

○ SC, older male lead, three-year age gap

○ A melodramatic romance. The female lead and the second male lead are only engaged in name, but he doesn't see it that way.

○ The male lead is a little unhinged. There was more to why he left back then.

○ All place names and settings are fictional. 70% anti-piracy measures.

Blurb revised on August 11, 2024

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Please add The Colors at Dawn to your reading list. Blurb below:

Mischievous and spirited × reserved and taciturn

Nuo Shu hates Yan Qianze.

If her aunt hadn't died unexpectedly, forcing her to work with him, she thinks she never would have had anything to do with a man like him.

Disciplined, fastidious, a workaholic, and a calculating businessman who values profit above all else.

The thing he often says to Nuo Shu is, "You're far too inefficient."

Nuo Shu was the one who asked to break up. The ever-aloof man didn't even raise an eyelid. Cold white light glinted off his glasses.

"Fine. Just don't let me see you again, or I'll break your legs."

Nuo Shu was rather fond of her legs, so Yan Qianze never managed to find her, not once.

Then news of Yan Qianze's car accident spread like wildfire, and the media reported on it extensively. He let them exaggerate the story.

When he was discharged, President Yan sat in a wheelchair, his custom-tailored suit without a single wrinkle. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes looked heartbreakingly fragile.

When reporters approached him with questions, he greeted them with a smile, unlike his usual self.

His striking looks and illustrious family background once again sent him to the top of the trending lists.

After returning home, Yan Qianze rested in bed.

His assistant sent him a surveillance video.

In the video, Nuo Shu's long hair had been cut short. Wearing a white T-shirt and shorts, she strolled through an old residential neighborhood somewhere in China, leading a fluffy little Pomeranian.

The next moment, a man caught up from behind, took the leash from her, and chatted with her with easy familiarity.

/

Nuo Shu hadn't forgotten what he said when they parted.

So when she returned to China to take care of some work paperwork, she dared to stay only in a run-down old neighborhood.

The day before she was due to leave, her friends threw her a send-off.

She had a little to drink and staggered home, tipsy and hazy.

The moment she turned on the light in the entryway, her heart suddenly clenched.

The man who had been sitting in a wheelchair on the news was now standing right in the middle of her home.

The light fell on the lower half of his face, making his lips look especially red.

"Found you."

/

On the thirtieth day Yan Qianze had kept Nuo Shu by his side against her will, she was gone from the house, and broken glass was scattered across the floor.

Standing by the shattered window, he picked up a piece of paper cut into the shape of a rose.

It read: [886 /v^w^v]

She'd taken the time to cut out paper while escaping. Yan Qianze laughed in anger.

"Nuo Shu, you'd better hope I don't find you."

Theme: Knowing what you want, yet still letting you take one step after another toward me.