Crossing the Line

The first time Gu Ning met Ye Wanke was one evening when she was fifteen. She had traveled with her mother from a small fishing village to Shencheng, taking a train for two days and one night. They arrived at a luxurious villa. Her mother pointed to the girl who had just arrived and told her to call her big sister. Gu Ning spoke softly and obediently. “Big sister…” The girl glanced at her haughtily, her gaze cold. “Get lost. Who’s your sister?” With that, she overturned the table at their first family dinner. Everyone else looked furious. That was when Gu Ning truly wanted to call her “Sis.” Later, she learned that Ye Wanke’s mother had been dead for less than three months when her father brought Gu Ning and her mother home. No wonder Ye Wanke looked at her like she was garbage. Gu Ning had grown up like a wild child and thought she was used to being looked at that way. But the more Ye Wanke looked at her like that, the more Gu Ning wanted to get close to her. Close enough to… pin her by the nape, bite the tip of her ear, and hear her tremble as she called her “A Ning.” - Ye Wanke had been the apple of the Ye family’s eye since childhood, pampered and privileged, with everything going her way. The first obstacle in her smooth, comfortable life was the early death of her birth mother. The second was the arrival of a strange mother and daughter three months later. She hated everything about her stepmother, naturally including the tagalong. “Big sister, I like you. I like you like this.” The girl unbuttoned her clothes. “Can’t you just think of it as getting back at her?” The tagalong looked slender and fragile. How dare she set her sights on her? And so Ye Wanke’s third obstacle appeared. Much later, it was her turn to pin down the person who had once had eyes only for her and beg over and over, “Will you call me big sister again, please?” [Aloof beauty who becomes possessive and obsessive for love x resilient, peerlessly beautiful girl-next-door] - *The first volume is a bittersweet school story, the second a fast-paced workplace romance *Monogamous, one-on-one romance; one partner turns the other gay; both take turns in the top role, with a preference for the bottom role *Updated daily at 6 p.m. *The main characters are not related by law or blood [This is the next book I’ll be starting] “Marriage Is Fine, but I Won’t Be the Bottom.” Add it to your reading list from my author page! Blurb: [Marriage first, love later / feelings grow over time / cool, cunning, always-top powerhouse x temperamental bottom who fantasizes about being the top] Shen Lai is one of the many illegitimate children of Pingcheng’s wealthy Shen family, ranked eleventh. Being an illegitimate daughter has its perks. The Shen family’s highest expectations for her are that she won’t start a business and will simply coast through life as a rich playgirl. Shen Lai spends her time dancing, jetting all over the world, and occasionally taking a part in a TV drama when she feels like it. She has a wonderfully comfortable life. But illegitimate daughters have their uses, too: the Shen family has arranged a marriage for her. Shen Lai flies into a rage. She’s a lesbian, and she’s a top. There’s no way she’ll ever marry a man! She buys a ticket to flee overseas and makes it all the way to the airport, but her seventh older brother calls her: “Why are you running? Is Chi Yanqing not good enough for you? If she weren’t a lesbian too, would you have been picked for an alliance with the Chi family?” “You should’ve told me sooner. Look at all this fuss.” Shen Lai turns around on the spot and heads back to her spacious apartment. That night, soaking in the bath with a drink in hand, she zooms in on a photo of Chi Yanqing attending a meeting: The young woman sits on a sofa in a light beige suit, legs crossed, her expression cool as she talks with the others. A pair of silver wire-rimmed glasses accentuates her chilly, chaste aura. Those long, straight legs wrapped in suit trousers make Shen Lai feel restless even while she’s soaking in the tub. A match made in heaven! Shen Lai goes along with her family’s arrangement, and the wedding takes place as planned. That night, she watches the woman take off her glasses and pat her waist. “Lie down.” Shen Lai: ??? This isn’t right!!! - A supporting role played by Shen Lai unexpectedly becomes a hit, taking her from the eighteenth tier straight to the second. Her overly blunt interviews earn her a legion of haters who diligently criticize her on Weibo every day. Shen Lai jumps into the fray from her verified account, arguing back. People often take screenshots, and she ends up trending in another wave of negative headlines. Her agent begs President Chi to do something. Chi Yanqing says nothing and simply keeps taking the negative hashtags off the trending list. One day, a headline explodes across the trending topics: Rising star’s romance exposed! In the blurry footage, a beautiful woman who looks like Shen Lai is pinned against a car door by a tall, slender woman in a suit, and they kiss passionately. Comment: [So that’s why she suddenly got such great opportunities. It’s different when you’ve got a sugar mommy, huh?] Shen Lai replies from her main account: [She’s my wife, haters.] Another hashtag trends, and the comments get even more heated as everyone tries to guess who the other woman is. [So, is Shen Lai the top or the bottom?] [You need to watch that video again.] [Shen Lai, say something! You’re online but not saying a word. Are you the top or the bottom?] Shen Lai, who usually loses her temper over the smallest thing, goes completely quiet on Weibo for a whole month. “It’s all your fault. I want to be the top!” “Tomorrow, I’ll let you. Come on, lift your leg higher.” - *Monogamous, one-on-one romance *Same-sex marriage is legal in this setting. *An unconventional entertainment-industry story, with only a small amount of showbiz content. Theme: What you can’t forget will come back to you.