Shanghai Rain and Wandering Dreams

★ My next novel, When the Chill Comes at the Fall of Love, is now underway! Please add it to your favorites "^o^" Romance | Rekindled love | Coercive romance | The pursuit of a wife after losing her, Cold and resilient x aloof young master (later, driven mad by jealousy, he becomes a homewrecker and crawls around in the shadows)

-----------------Novel blurb-------------------

Shang Tingyue, a top-tier heir to a wealthy family, holds unrivaled power in the entertainment industry.

Ming Huazhao, the owner of Huairou Workshop, is a master of delicate goldwork.

A variety show invitation brought the two of them together in bed.

They disappeared for half a day, right in front of everyone.

Afterward, he reached for a cigarette, silently flicked his lighter, and turned his head to light it.

"I didn't expect you to be a first-timer."

"Does that... bother you?"

The flame flickered. His profile was sharply defined, cool and noble, his breath carrying an air of nonchalance. Ming Hua suddenly realized she might have been too careless in choosing a partner for this impulsive game.

"Why would it bother me?"

"It was my first time, too."

-

Later on,

The one who started the game was the first to lose control.

On a freezing, bone-chilling New Year's Eve,

she curled up on the steps outside the man's home. She saw him get out of his car, open his umbrella, and walk toward her step by step, only to pass her by without a trace of emotion.

She ran after him and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Do you still love me?"

The man's back stiffened. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"But I've fallen in love with you!"

He gave a low, mocking laugh.

"Have you? Fallen for the stand-in?"

That September rain in Shanghai, you and I met. From then on, I always felt the love between us was damp with rain.

Only later did I understand: you were my cocoon, and I was a butterfly in the rain. The cocoon wove a dream of delirium for the butterfly.

★ Both are first-timers, sex first, love later

★ Physical attraction, but not a typical stand-in romance

★ The romance and career plots each get equal attention

------------------Upcoming novel blurb------------------

Cold and resilient x playboy who turns over a new leaf | The pursuit of a wife after losing her

-

A pouring rain on a summer night when she was twenty-seven.

Chi Luoyi knelt outside the Chi family gates,

begging her uncle and aunt to lend her money for her husband's surgery.

She knelt for as long as the rain fell.

Until a cold black umbrella appeared above her.

"Chi Luoyi."

"Back then, to break off your engagement, you cut ties with the Chi family. You ignored your half-paralyzed fiance, and even went so far as to abort my child."

"I thought you wouldn't regret it. And yet here you are, throwing away your dignity to beg the very person you did everything to escape."

The torrential rain soaked the expensive fabric of the powerful man's trousers.

"Do you love him that much?"

"Yes..."

"I love him, and that's why I regret it. I regret cutting off my only way out for someone who didn't matter."

The umbrella handle snapped in his palm.

"Fine. Then let me tell you this. In all of Hangcheng, no one will lend you money, even if you kneel until your knees are ruined."

He stood up and tossed a card in front of her knees as if throwing away trash.

"Now I'm your only way out."

"An affair, or that sickly man's life."

"Choose."

Theme: I am steadfast in both my ideals and in him