The Gentlemanly Shackles [Beijing Circle]

Please add my upcoming fluffy romance, Don't Photograph the Lions! Photograph Me! and Who Dates Their Regular Hookup?, to your reading lists. Their blurbs are at the end. Refined, abstinent daddy-type power player from Beijing's elite circles × stubbornly romantic art student The powerful man lowers his head | Seven-year age gap | Clashing values. Blurb below: When Shen Yan was seventeen, she unexpectedly caught the eye of Beijing's performing arts scene. Not only did she land the female lead in a major dance production, she also met a benefactor, Qin He, who introduced her to the circles there. People said Qin He was mild-mannered yet aloof, kind to everyone on the surface but with very few people who truly mattered to him. When word got around that he had a young woman by his side whom he protected in every way, nobody took it seriously. They assumed he was merely indulging a passing fancy. Later, when fake, scandalous photos of her went viral, people on the production team waited to see her make a fool of herself, and the director told her on the spot to stop work and recast her role. Qin He appeared below the stage without warning and casually let out a puff of smoke. "Keep performing." Meeting her wavering gaze, he spoke in a cool, even tone. "I haven't called it off. Nobody else's words count." Qin He's heart was locked in chains. From that day on, Shen Yan tried desperately to pick that lock. On the night of the performance, she became famous throughout Beijing's arts scene, surrounded by admirers. Yet she insisted on parting the crowd and bringing the bouquet of jasmine in her hands to him. Qin He glanced at the dew trembling on the petals. It was as transparent as the young woman's feelings. He didn't take it. Turning away, he casually remarked to someone nearby, "She's a rather novel little thing." Shen Yan stood there in a daze, slowly lowering the hand holding the bouquet. She felt as if she were drowning, unable to breathe. She knew he was an abyss, and that if she didn't escape, she would be swallowed whole. - Several years later. Shen Yan returned to China with a new production she'd been preparing for a long time, hoping to find a chance to bring it to the stage in collaboration with someone. Her fiance offered to introduce her to a contact. In a private room at a newly opened bar in Beijing, she had barely pushed open the door before a man pulled her inside and pinned her against the wall. "He brought you here?" The composure she'd shown moments earlier vanished in an instant. The same youthful panic as before rose in her eyes. Qin He blocked off her every breath, leaving her limp and powerless to resist. Only when he was satisfied with the kiss did he let her go a little, praising her with a cold smile. "You've learned plenty over the years. You're just still not clever enough." The man tore away every restraint of propriety he'd maintained all these years, grappling and kissing her like a madman as he whispered temptations in her ear. "Why look for someone else?" "Come to me, and I'll give you anything you want." - When Qin He met Shen Yan, she was a proud, strong-willed girl, innocent of the ways of the world. He taught her how to handle herself, introduced her to people, and personally molded her into a rising star in Beijing's arts scene. He'd known from the start that he shouldn't get too close to her, so he kept himself in check and maintained every appearance of propriety, pretending he knew nothing of her feelings. In the end, she really did take the hint and leave, vanishing without a trace. Yet he was struck by the backlash, and his longing for her grew like a madness. At last she came back, with an eyesore by her side. Qin He gave a cold laugh, pulled her away right in front of the man, and bent his head to murmur intimately to her: "See? He brought you to me." "Even he knows you're best off by my side." Notes: 1. Seven-year age gap. Both leads have only been with each other. 2. The heroine is stubbornly in love in the early part; later, the hero claims her by force. The romance between them only becomes explicit after the heroine is an adult. [Important] 3. The hero is a true daddy type: emotionally steady and very abstinent. The heroine starts out as a cool, delicate flower, then grows into a sophisticated and versatile literary talent. - Please add my upcoming fluffy romance, Don't Photograph the Lions! Photograph Me!, to your reading list! Bright, energetic, straightforward college girl × carefree, wealthy, straight male photographer. Blurb below: Other people go to Africa to see lions. Dong Xueyin got injured on her very first day there: she broke her arm. She rescued a local child, but instead of earning course credits, she first earned a snow-white cast on her arm. Worse still, the tour group left without a care, dumping her like a piece of luggage with another unfamiliar jeep that was departing later. Dong Xueyin squatted on a street in Narok, where it was 40 degrees Celsius, waving the cast on her arm as she cheerfully reassured her parents over the phone. "Oh, don't worry about me! Everyone here is so friendly, and there are tourists everywhere. Chinese people are always looking out for each other!" Li Weiyu, the kindly fellow countryman, stood behind her with a stony expression and called, "Are you coming or not?" * On his seventh trip to Africa, Li Weiyu skipped all the usual tourist routes. He arranged a driver he knew well and set off as soon as he landed. They hadn't even driven out of the city when the driver got a call. Scratching his head, he said they had to pick up an injured tourist. Li Weiyu raised an eyebrow but didn't object. He lowered his head to fiddle with his camera, but when they arrived, no one got into the car for ages. Looking outside, he saw a young woman chatting happily with a group of Black children, generously handing out snacks from her backpack. He rolled down the window and urged her to hurry up, only for her to stare at him with shining eyes. "Hey, you have a camera? Could you take a group photo for us?" Li Weiyu: "..." "Strike a pose." Three, two, one. Click. Li Weiyu's lens had been shoved in lions' faces and captured snow on the equator. This summer, it began to catch the girl's radiant smile again and again. "I worshipped wandering, change, and fantasy, until she pinned my love to one spot on Earth." - Li Weiyu - Who Dates Their Regular Hookup? From friends with benefits to lovers | A playboy reforms | Love triangle. Please add it to your reading list! Blurb: 1. Qiao Xi had always lived freely and loved her independence. Yang Jiayu's heart was like deadwood that would never bloom. When a mutual friend introduced them as potential roommates, they promised the two would get along perfectly, the kind who stayed out of each other's business. At first, after moving in, that was exactly how things went. Until one humid, sultry night, Yang Jiayu caught Qiao Xi alone, her eyes bright with desire and her voice sweet as a songbird's. A few days later, She put down a newly delivered package she'd only half-unwrapped, then suddenly tilted her head and smiled at him. "Want to try it together?" 2. On a stormy night, Qiao Xi brought a date upstairs to wait out the rain. But when she opened the door, she ran into the man emerging from the steamy bathroom. She pretended to be calm and introduced the man, who wore nothing but a towel around his waist. "This is my roommate." Her date forced an awkward smile and said politely, "Hello." Yang Jiayu glanced at Qiao Xi's soaked top and gave a cool, dismissive "Mm." He bent over at the water dispenser to pour himself a glass. His lightly tanned abs flexed, and droplets he'd failed to wipe away ran down into the shadow of his V-line. He stood, took his glass, and went straight back to his room. 3. Later, as the rain eased, her date said goodbye, and Qiao Xi personally walked him to the door. The elevator chimed and its doors closed. An arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her firmly back inside without giving her a choice. All the lights went out. Yang Jiayu pinned her in a corner of the sofa. She was soaked all over, and she couldn't tell if it was rainwater or a thin sheen of sweat. "Why didn't you leave with someone else tonight?" "Was this one no good?" Qiao Xi froze in the darkness for a few seconds. She could feel Yang Jiayu desperately trying to vent his despair, and at last she thought she heard him mumbling. "Xixi." He rarely kissed her between the brows. "Don't try anyone else. Nobody will ever understand you better than I do." Qiao Xi was utterly exhausted. She casually answered, "Mm," then got up briskly after waking the next morning. "Qiao Xi." Yang Jiayu propped himself up by the headboard and called to her in a low voice from behind. She turned her head back, blinking in confusion and innocence. A few seconds later, she gave her usual polite summary: "Oh, I had a great time last night." Theme: If freedom is at stake, I can give up either of the other two.