[Beijing elite circles | Nine-year age gap | Powerful man bends to her will]
Highly educated, spoiled troublemaker VS. stern, old-fashioned Daddy who loves to discipline
Approaches him with an ulterior motive VS. lets her come closer
"1"
Su Wanying never believed she had married Lin Zongting because she had
Daddy issues.
Lin Zongting's hand paused slightly as he held his coffee. He glanced at her.
Su Wanying: "...Why are you looking at me?"
Lin Zongting looked at the knife and fork gleaming in his young wife's hand. His brows drew together slightly, and he said in a low voice, "It's nothing."
Then he looked away and continued scrolling through his tablet, browsing the morning news.
Su Wanying: "Oh, this robe's sleeves are so annoying. Roll them up for me, would you?"
As she spoke, she held out her arm to him, acting like she had every right to be spoiled.
Lin Zongting glanced at her again, then set down his coffee cup without a word and rolled up her sleeve with the ease of someone who had done it a thousand times.
"2"
The Lin family, one of the most powerful families in Beijing, announced that they were considering an alliance through marriage.
It wasn't for one of the younger members of the family, but for the man who ran it: Lin Zongting.
Lin Zongting had taken sole control at twenty-five. Now just thirty, he was as refined as an orchid and as aloof as a mountain peak, the most dazzling talent in all of Beijing. Rumor had it that he had never given his heart to anyone.
The news spread like wildfire. Families with daughters of marriageable age were eager to put themselves forward, creating a spectacle like an emperor choosing his concubines.
When Su Wanying first found out, she thought it was a feudal practice and looked down on it with disdain.
But later...
"Mr. Lin, here's your coffee."
Using the alias Ava, she approached Lin Zongting as his secretary when he visited the European branch.
And later still...
When her legs were draped over the man's shoulders, she thought the whole thing was utterly ridiculous.
Keeping her secret in her heart, she could no longer keep up the act and fled in a panic.
Rumor had it that the Lin family head, who had never been interested in women, had called in influential connections in Europe that he could hardly afford to use, all to find one woman.
When the story made its way back home, everyone was astonished.
Some marveled that the dignified and reserved Mr. Lin was such a devoted lover.
Others scoffed that the little sweetheart who had snubbed Mr. Lin was playing hard to get too shamelessly and would get what was coming to her.
But they didn't know that after Su Wanying was caught, she didn't get what was coming to her. Lin Zongting fed her something else, and even when she said she didn't want it, he kept going.
They also didn't know that Su Wanying was the spoiled one. She lightly kicked Lin Zongting's suit trousers with her toe and ordered him to roll up her sleeves, sometimes sweetly calling him "Daddy," while he was more than happy to oblige.
*** Q&A Bonus Scene ***
Q: What do you think about Lin Zongting and Su Wanying getting married?
Lu Yanci, Lin Zongting's friend (or perhaps frenemy?), and a well-known playboy in Beijing.
Lu Yanci: Of course, I congratulate them. Zongting pursued her for a long time before he finally won her over. Oh, this is off the record, okay? Our Mr. Lin would never admit it anyway.
Jiang Yu, Lin Zongting's longtime assistant and Su Wanying's direct supervisor when she was his secretary.
Jiang Yu: (heartbroken version) Ava was a total vixen. I must have been blind to hire her. She led Mr. Lin astray, and now [the emperor no longer attends court]!
(Noticing the look on someone's face) Ahem, of course I wish them all the best. Mr. Lin is an excellent boss, diligent, generous, and courteous. He and Ms. Su couldn't be more suited to each other.
Su Wanqi, Su Wanying's half-sister.
Su Wanqi: What do I think? What do I have to think? Su Wanying is a thief! She's been one her whole life! My mother's family and the Lin family have been close for generations. Why should she get to marry into the Lin family? Wah! (Muffled and dragged away.)
/Unaware that she has Daddy issues, Su Wanying the temptress VS. Lin Daddy, who thinks, "Does she love me? Whatever, I love her."/
1. Age gap: 21 vs. 30; height difference: 167 vs. 190
2. Lin Daddy lives up to the name. He's domineering in every way and loves to discipline her, ahem, including at night.
3. She deliberately approaches him -> she runs, he chases -> marriage by agreement -> marriage first, love later, and then a Happy Ending!
4. This isn't a slice-of-life story. It has plenty of twists and is the angsty, dramatic kind, while still being sweet and indulgent overall.
5. The author's personal fantasies erupt in this work. It's passionate and completely uninhibited.
Theme: Daddy issues, a colloquial term for an Electra complex
