Old Dreams Beyond Reach [Rekindled Love]

Five years after their breakup, Qiao Yinmeng runs into Jiang Chengzhou in a hotel elevator. He is now the powerful head of the Jiang family, cold and aloof, impossibly out of reach. The rumored girlfriend is standing beside him. His gaze passes over Qiao Yinmeng without a hint of recognition.

When his friends hear about it, they tell Jiang Chengzhou to stay away from Qiao Yinmeng and remind him how she dumped him back then. Jiang Chengzhou says coldly, "I won't make the same mistake twice."

But when news breaks that Qiao Yinmeng is about to marry into the Su family, the usually composed and restrained Jiang Chengzhou can no longer keep his cool. He finds Qiao Yinmeng and holds her captive in his arms. "Why did you say yes?"

Qiao Yinmeng answers nonchalantly, "Because he can give me what I want."

Furious, Jiang Chengzhou says, "Call off the engagement. Whatever he can give you, I can give you too."

Qiao Yinmeng looks him straight in the eye. "Anything?"

Jiang Chengzhou replies, "Whatever you want."

"All right," Qiao Yinmeng says without hesitation. "I want you."

Jiang Chengzhou is determined not to let Qiao Yinmeng leave him again, no matter whether they love or hate each other. They are meant to be entangled for the rest of their lives. But by a cruel twist of fate, he misses the call Qiao Yinmeng makes to him. Later that night, he holds her in his arms, and through the thin white fabric, his hands become stained with her blood...

-

"Qiao Yinmeng, the big star? You must know her, right? As it happens, I drove her once," the taxi driver says as he drives.

The man in the back seat is cold and aloof. His voice is indifferent. "I don't know her."

The driver continues, "She wasn't famous then. I don't know what happened, but she just started crying in the car."

The man pauses. "When was this?"

"Two years ago. That day... I remember now. Right, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival. The moon was just like it is tonight, bright and round. She sat right where you are, crying her heart out."

The man's throat tightens. "Why was she crying?"

"I asked her the same thing. At first, she just shook her head. Later, she told me it was her lover's birthday, but they'd been apart for a long time."

The man's hands, hanging at his sides, tremble faintly. His thoughts drift back to a day five years ago, when they were still together. She sat on his lap, her arms around his neck, smiling like a flower in bloom. "Happy birthday, Jiang Chengzhou."

Cool and tender heroine vs. cold and devoted hero

Happy ending / first love for both leads, each other's only one, no exes

Theme: Only by striving to improve yourself can you become the best version of yourself.