The Young Master Regrets It Too Late

[Black Lotus Gets Betrayed After Falling in Love] is now available on my homepage. The blurb is in the comments below. There's also a short story, [Oh, So He's a Substitute], so if you're interested, come check out my homepage!

It was perfectly natural that Xiao Yin didn't like Yang Shuiqi.

He came from the respectable Xiao family, was blessed with otherworldly looks, and was the very picture of integrity and self-restraint, as bright and untainted as the moon. He strictly upheld the family rules and was the Xiao family's most promising younger generation. Yang Shuiqi's father, on the other hand, was a notorious treacherous official.

Everyone knew that wherever Xiao Yin was, Yang Shuiqi would be there too.

No matter how hard Yang Shuiqi tried to please Xiao Yin, all she ever got in return was his cold face.

Yang Shuiqi didn't care and never gave up, calling him "Second Brother Xiao" in a sweet voice.

Until one day, when Xiao Yin protected his cousin and told her, "Stop making a scene."

The young man's cool, clear words rang in her ears, dousing all of Yang Shuiqi's passion in a single sentence.

She finally stopped throwing herself at a brick wall.

*

The whole capital treated Yang Shuiqi like a joke, laughing at her for overestimating herself. She had made a huge spectacle of chasing the Second Young Master of the Xiao family, only to finally give up and let her family arrange a match with someone else.

After Yang Shuiqi left, Xiao Yin thought he would feel relieved.

But whenever he ate pastries, he would inexplicably think of the young girl's sweet smile.

Whenever he heard someone mention Yang Shuiqi, he couldn't help but prick up his ears.

Then, at a lantern festival, Xiao Yin saw Yang Shuiqi smiling radiantly beside another man, and his heart gave an uncontrollable pang.

He thought he might really be going mad.

Xiao Yin asked her, "Do you still mean it when you say you want to marry me?"

To his surprise, Yang Shuiqi replied coldly, "Second Young Master Xiao, please stop making a scene. It's incredibly annoying."

Later, the usually calm and restrained Xiao Yin became the very sort of person he despised, using every means at his disposal just to marry the young woman who once had eyes only for him.

Theme: Be a good person.