Manman

[Opening December 16. Please add to your collection 🥺]

Qiao Man x Xie Fangqiu

Innocent and carefree x powerful and influential

The second male lead gets the girl | Uncle steals his nephew's bride | Older man has been plotting for a long time | Nine-year age gap

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Everyone in their circle knew Qiao Man was Ye Yichen's inseparable little shadow.

They'd grown up together, and their marriage was as good as certain.

But when the groom failed to show up on their wedding day, Qiao Man became the laughingstock of the capital.

She fled in disarray, and met Xie Fangqiu at her lowest point.

The man's long eyes tilted slightly at the corners, his eyelids were thin, and his hands were as beautiful as fan ribs. He held her veil in one hand. "You dropped something."

Qiao Man took it. "Thank you. Are you..."

"By seniority, you should call me Little Uncle."

Only later did she learn he was Ye Yichen's mother's younger brother, and the all-powerful head of the Xie family, who could make the wind and rain obey.

She'd heard he was terribly old-fashioned and strict about rules. The next time she saw him, Qiao Man still addressed him respectfully as "Little Uncle."

She never expected that in the end, the self-disciplined and proper Mr. Xie would be the one asking her to call him something else.

His warm fingertips brushed her lips, and for once his tone was teasing. "I said you should call me Little Uncle, so you've kept calling me that? Manman, you're so obedient."

When Ye Yichen announced that he was going to win Qiao Man back, he never imagined anything could get in his way.

After all, she'd been in love with him alone for so many years, with her self-esteem ground into the dirt. All he had to do was beckon, and she'd come back.

But on Qiao Man's birthday, after preparing a grand surprise party, he was rejected.

Ye Yichen couldn't understand. He pulled her aside and demanded an explanation. Qiao Man's voice was barely audible. "Maybe, perhaps, probably... now you have to call me... Little Aunt?"

-

Even after many years of marriage, Xie Fangqiu still thought of the first time he'd met Qiao Man.

Her bright eyes were enchanting, her smile radiant. She was explaining the restoration techniques used on an antique to someone nearby, and he, newly returned from abroad, caught one glimpse of her and remembered her for a long time.

"That's the Qiao family's daughter. Her given name is Man," a friend beside him explained. "Isn't it strange? What an unusual character to use in a name."

Xie Fangqiu only smiled. "Unusual? Manman sounds lovely, doesn't it?"

"Your nephew by marriage said the same thing."

His gaze lingered for a moment. "Is that so?"

He'd been waiting all along for the day he could call her by her nickname openly.

Manman, his Manman.

*SC, should be a sweet little romance

*Capital-circle novel, the details are fictional and not meant to stand up to scrutiny

*First draft: April 17, 2025. Revised: August 29, 2026

Theme: Cherish the people by your side