Deserted Island [Entertainment Industry]

Author's note: The story was substantially revised after completion. The logic in pirated chapters is jumbled, so beware of pirated copies.

Blurb:

[Down-and-out, ruthless heiress x restrained, upright scion of a prominent family]

Happy ending | One true pairing | Power-player lays a trap | Unrequited love fulfilled | Chasing his wife in the entertainment industry

Tu Lin dumped Ji Xiushang.

It wasn't a whim. She'd simply had enough.

After winning the lawsuit, he disappeared without a word for half a month. Tu Lin realized that if he wanted to, he could shut her out as though a thousand miles lay between them.

[Perspective One]

On the eve of leaving the country at eighteen, Ji Xiushang attended the birthday banquet the Tu family had thrown for their beloved daughter.

She was the center of attention, as if the whole world revolved around her.

She was radiant and passionate, a princess high above him. To him, she was like poppies: intoxicating, yet too precious to defile.

He thought that was where the story ended.

After returning home, he made waves in the business world under the title of the Ji family's heir.

Meanwhile, the Tu family was turned upside down and vanished from North City altogether.

Even a camel on the brink of death is bigger than a horse. Faced with her relatives' greed, she was like a cornered beast, fierce yet fragile.

"Mr. Ji, please help me." Her eyes were red, her voice choked with tears, but he could see the ambition she couldn't hide.

After that, she treated their relationship as a bargaining chip in a transaction.

She walked further and further into the trap he'd carefully laid for her, a knot tightening with every step.

But how could she be content with that? Pride ran in Tu Lin's bones, but so did a soft heart.

He was out of options. He exposed his weakness, lowering himself to the utmost.

"I'm using you."

"Then keep using me."

But wasn't he doing the same?

He used Tu Lin's dependence on him to force her to fall in love with him.

Otherwise, who could ever truly love him?

[Perspective Two]

In the blink of an eye, Tu Lin fell from her pedestal. Her starlight faded, and she was buried in the dust.

At the first funeral, the man stood by the memorial altar in an immaculate, aristocratic black suit, holding three sticks of incense.

She knelt beside him and looked up, as if gazing at a god.

Tu Lin fell in love with power and used his compassion, against her conscience.

Who could have known she'd become so deeply entangled, unable to escape?

She knew Ji Xiushang was a man full of secrets, and bet he would never say "I love you."

But at the end of the corridor that night, he advanced on her step by step.

"Tu Lin, let's start over."

"I'll pursue you." He paused. "This time, I'll be the one to love you."

"Will you let me?"

Later, he slowly opened up his old wounds.

On New Year's Eve, surrounded by fireworks, Tu Lin asked him:

"Can you stay by my side for the rest of my life?"

His voice mingled with the explosions of the fireworks, yet rang out with perfect clarity.

"Tu Lin, we'll only ever be parted by death."

Content warnings:

1. Neither lead is perfect in every way.

2. This isn't a story about Beijing's elite circles, and the male lead isn't entirely on the side of justice.

Theme: Love is quiet, yet heavier than life itself.