Summer Is Wedding Season

★ My next story, "Snow in the Palm," is listed at the bottom. Please add it to your collection!

Cold on the outside, warm on the inside tycoon x gentle, independent pastry chef

Marriage first, love later / face-slapping / strangers falling for each other

Zong Zhengyi came from a powerful family and had no intention of ever marrying. Just as everyone thought he would grow old with his career, he unexpectedly married Xia Yi, whose family was ordinary and who had gone wild in his room the first time they met.

That day, after learning her boyfriend had cheated, Xia Yi angrily smashed the hotel room door. The person who opened it was Zong Zhengyi, his expression indifferent.

He leaned against the doorway, two buttons undone on his neat shirt, revealing a glimpse of his collarbone. The man's thin lips parted. "Miss, who are you?"

Another time, he caught someone mocking her and stepped in to help. Afterward, he wanted to discuss a deal with her: she had to marry him. Xia Yi was annoyed, but when he finished explaining the terms, she sat back down.

Zong Zhengyi seemed to have expected this. He glanced at her. "That depends on how well you do at work."

-

Later, she felt that he was giving her more and more, and that even their playacting was becoming more and more convincing.

In the drizzle, he held an umbrella in one hand and pulled her into his arms with the other, patting her head. "You little crybaby, crying again."

He wouldn't let her swallow her anger. He taught her to love herself. Beneath the dim bedside lamp, she gazed at the handsome man's face and couldn't help wondering what he would be like if he fell for someone.

Then she overheard him talking with a friend: "I'm not interested in pretty ornaments. We're just getting what we each want."

Xia Yi instantly came to her senses. Whatever they had now, it wasn't that.

As their contract period neared its end, she knocked on his study door.

"We can get divorced now, right?"

He didn't even look up. "No."

-

Zong Zhengyi thought Xia Yi was just being difficult, until her stepbrother, Lin Yankai, appeared at her side.

He went to find her, rain and wind clinging to him. Every time she argued with him, he kissed her. In the car, he held her on his lap and kissed her. "Xia Yi, I'm not someone who takes love lightly."

Xia Yi tugged at his immaculate tie, almost out of breath.

It was the first time Zong Zhengyi had ever pursued someone. He lowered his head and coaxed her. "What will it take for you to move back in?"

In truth, ever since that chilly summer night, the rain hadn't been the only thing soaking wet. His heart had been too.

"Because I love you, I've slowly become a better person."

[Reader's Guide]

1. Both leads are sexually inexperienced. Happy ending.

2. Six-year age gap.

3. The everyday romance of a tycoon who never wanted to marry but falls hard, turning from aloof and haughty into a devoted husband.

4. A tangled love triangle and an intense push and pull.

My next story, "Snow in the Palm." Please add it to your collection!

A girl who can be flexible and tough x an arrogant, unhinged man

Step-siblings brought together later in life / possessive pursuit / a love that is both bitter and passionate

Luo Mingting, heir to the Luo family, is someone nobody in his social circle dares provoke. Yet everyone saw the new "little sister" pour tea all over him.

The day Liang Yixue was brought into the Luo family, a blizzard fell over western Beijing.

In the main hall, Luo Mingting leaned against a huanghuali armchair, his features refined and proper, his eyes veiled by a cold, gloomy look.

Everyone thought Luo Mingting couldn't stand this little sister.

-

At a banquet, someone cornered Liang Yixue and spoke to her lewdly. "Why pretend to be so pure? Can't you use the same tricks your mother uses to control men?"

Before the laughter around them had died down, a champagne glass came hurtling from the second floor. It grazed the man's ear and shattered against the wall.

Everyone looked up in alarm.

Luo Mingting leaned casually against the railing, half his body hidden in shadow. He looked down at them, cold and menacing.

Liang Yixue stood where she was, her palms slick with sweat.

She didn't know if he was helping her or declaring something else.

A rainy night. Water streamed down the car windows, and the interior was cramped and dim.

Luo Mingting trapped Liang Yixue in the back seat. His fingertips wound around a strand of her hair, and his voice was low and husky. "When you need something, you call me 'big brother.' When you don't, you call me Luo Mingting... Liang Yixue, you sure know how to use me."

He gave a laugh, but there was no warmth in his eyes. He leaned close to her ear, his breath cold.

"I heard... my little sister has a boyfriend?"

Liang Yixue turned her face away and said nothing.

Luo Mingting gripped her chin and forced her to face him, dark fire in his eyes. "He's coming back. You're happy about that?"

-

Liang Yixue only wanted to keep her head down in the Luo household for a year and leave on schedule, but Luo Mingting refused to let her go. Then another upheaval struck her family, and with nowhere else to turn, she went to Luo Mingting for help.

The chill of the night's dew still clung to him, but his fingertips were scorching hot.

"You're asking me?" He looked into her tear-wet eyes, his thumb slowly brushing her lips. "What will you give me in return?"

Her lashes trembled violently. He suddenly smiled, leaned down, and kissed her quivering eyelashes, his heated breath spilling into her ear.

"Where else do you think you can run, Liang Yixue?"

Later, people in their circle spread the story that the Luo family's heir had knelt outside his mother's room all night. No one knew that she wasn't the one trapped. He was the one who never wanted to leave this snow again.

Reader's Guide:

1. Happy ending. Both leads are sexually inexperienced.

2. Seven-year age gap. She runs, he pursues. A melodramatic, bittersweet story with an intense push and pull.

3. The leads are not registered as members of the same household and are not blood-related.

4. Dragon x snow sparrow. The male lead isn't a good person, but he's devoted to her in both body and heart, and he'll convince himself of anything.

Theme: Learn to love yourself and strive to improve