Milk Coffee Without Sugar

[The novel is complete. If you see an update notice, it's because I'm revising or fixing typos. My upcoming novels are all on my author page. If you like them, please add them to your collection. For more upcoming and completed novels, visit my author page. Thank you for your support.]

Li Xian x Si Youze

Pretending to be sweet and obedient x genuinely roguish and wicked

When Li Xian was sixteen, she moved into the Si family home with her mother. From that day on, she played the part of a good little sister and a good student, until one day her brother, Si Youze, discovered her secret.

One day after the college entrance exams, Li Xian was about to go out to meet a friend when Si Youze stopped her. A roguish smile played at the corners of his eyes and mouth. "You've been playing the good girl for so long. Aren't you tired? Why not fall from grace with your big brother?"

Li Xian gave him a cold look. "Are you really my brother?"

Si Youze thought for a moment, then gave a self-deprecating laugh.

He wasn't.

Because no brother in this world would do to his sister what spring does to a cherry tree.

-

Years later, after a company dinner, a group of people walked out of a restaurant. Across the street was a shopping mall, where a giant billboard displayed the latest fashion ad starring one of the entertainment industry's hottest actresses.

Someone with a sharp eye recognized the star as Li Xian, a popular actress, and remarked, "She's gorgeous."

Then they turned around and saw their boss staring at the billboard without blinking.

"Mr. Si, I didn't know you were a fan."

The man calmly lit a cigarette. "I'm not. That's my wife."

Everyone: "..."

A huge helping of PDA dropped out of nowhere.

Both are virgins. Happy ending. The leads are not blood-related and aren't on the same household registration. The male lead is already an adult at the start. There are no intimate scenes while the female lead is underage, nor while they are still legally related.

Coming next: Has the Flower-Seeking Scholar Begged His Wife to Take Him Back Yet?

Blurb:

After a palace coup, Shen Shiyi's family falls from grace. Following the confiscation of their property, all the men in the Shen family are conscripted and exiled, while the women are sold to brothels and entertainment houses. By a twist of fate, Shen Shiyi, the legitimate daughter of the Shen family, catches the eye of Feng Jue, the newly appointed scholar who had placed third in the imperial examinations. He buys her for the Feng household as a personal maid. Later, because the scholar comes to favor her, she is promoted to concubine.

The scholar treats Shen Shiyi with great care. Rumors even spread that Scholar Feng had refused to marry for two years for her sake, leaving the position of his principal wife vacant the entire time.

Later, Shen Shiyi gives birth to the Feng family's first son by a concubine. Once, she naively believed that bearing him a son would raise her status, and that the scholar would surely promote her from concubine to wife.

But everything changes when the scholar's childhood sweetheart, the princess who had been sent away for a political marriage and whom he had always cherished, returns.

He loses interest in Shen Shiyi and stops visiting her rooms, leaving her and the child behind. Every day, he plays music and chess with the princess, tends flowers and plants with her, and plans to watch the flowers of spring, the moon of autumn, the cicadas of summer, and the snow of winter by her side. On the very day Shen Shiyi gives birth, he marries Princess Zhaowan in a grand ceremony.

At last, Shen Shiyi learns the truth. The position of principal wife had been reserved for the princess sent away for the political marriage. He had refused to marry for his former fiancee, with whom he had once been engaged, not for Shen Shiyi. He had rejected marriages to noblewomen for Princess Zhaowan's sake. Everything he had done was for her. Even Shen Shiyi was merely a substitute for the princess he had always cherished.

She had always been only that woman's shadow, and had become the subject of gossip and ridicule.

Now that he has a principal wife, Shen Shiyi's child is no longer hers either. The child is registered under the principal wife's name and becomes someone else's child. A concubine has no right to raise her own child, and a concubine can never become a wife.

Heartbroken, Shen Shiyi asks to be released from her concubine's contract and leaves the Feng household.

On moving day, her husband, who had been away on business for a long time, finally returns. Holding the child in his arms, his eyes bloodshot, he blocks her way. "In life, you're a member of the Feng family. In death, you'll be a ghost of the Feng family. You're also Song Ge'er's birth mother. Don't leave me and the child, all right?"

"I don't want to stay in the Feng household anymore."

She no longer wants to spend this ridiculous life with him.

"Let's go our separate ways from now on. May we each find peace."

This time, Shen Shiyi walks away without looking back.

Later, the scholar stands with his hands behind his back, utterly confident as he tells her, "Shiniang, after a long talk with the princess, she now understands my feelings for you. Yesterday, she asked for a divorce. This time, I will marry you as my wife. With my parents' blessing and a matchmaker's proposal, I'll bring you into the Feng family properly in an eight-person bridal sedan."

Shen Shiyi looks at him calmly. "But I don't want that. I've already found someone I love, and I only want to spend the rest of my life with him. In a few days, we're getting married."

My completed novel, Kisses in Early Summer, is on my author page. If you like it, please add it to your collection.

Aloof, gentle, well-behaved girl x elegant, roguish playboy from a rich family

Blurb One:

When Xu Siyi received Tang Xin's breakup text, he was drinking with his buddies at a bar.

He glanced at his phone, frowned, and replied impatiently, "What are you throwing a tantrum about now?"

The message failed to send. A red exclamation mark popped up, along with the message: "You are no longer friends with this person."

She had deleted him.

The friend beside him saw it and teased, "The little queen at home is throwing a fit again. Aren't you going to hurry back and soothe her? Careful, she might not let you in tonight."

Xu Siyi looked utterly unconcerned. He tossed his phone aside and scoffed. "Why the hell should I soothe her? She's spoiled because I indulged her."

The drinking session ended around midnight. He staggered home, opened the door, and found the house pitch-black and empty.

Xu Siyi leaned lazily against the doorway and called Tang Xin's name. No one answered. He swore under his breath and reached for the light. There was not a trace of Tang Xin left in the room. This time, she had truly left him for good.

The two of them had always been as different as clouds in the sky and mud on the ground. Their relationship had never been equal, and it should have ended long ago.

Blurb Two:

Recently, Tang Xin accompanied her best friend to an exhibition by the renowned jewelry designer MR. X. Among the dazzling array of works, one piece caught her eye: a simple ring set with a blood-red rose. The display card bore the words: "My one and only rose forever: Xin."

Later, he gave her a rose garden unlike any other in the world.

"Come back, Tang Xin. Xu Siyi will marry you."

Happy ending.

Content warning: The male lead has dated before, but is still a virgin. He acts a little like a jerk early on. Read with caution if that bothers you.

Theme: I can quit smoking and drinking, but I can't quit you.