The Deeper the Summer Hues

The Ji and Shan families are about to become in-laws, and the news sent all of Li City into a frenzy overnight.

Everyone thought the Shan family was marrying the gentle, refined, doted-on eldest daughter, and that the Ji family would soon be basking in boundless glory.

The eldest daughter was even more smug than before. She flaunted her status as the Shan family's young madam wherever she went.

What she did not know was that in the back seat of the black Cullinan, where no one had ever been allowed to sit, intimate sounds rose and fell as a young woman with a fragrant, soft, delicate body was forced to cling to a man's shoulders.

That bright, exquisite face belonged unmistakably to the Ji family's least-loved second daughter.

2.

After marrying Shan Zhilan, Ji Shuying seemed to let herself go. Whoever dared to insult her got no mercy. Whenever she was angry, she let it out on the spot.

Everyone thought Ji Shuying was so spoiled that she would inevitably get divorced sooner or later. How could a flirtatious, charming woman like her compare to the elegant, distinguished head of the Shan family?

Ji Shuying knew exactly where she stood. She coveted his money, and she coveted his power. She was also waiting for the day Shan Zhilan asked for a divorce.

So she hid her painful, unspoken crush from the past away as tightly as she could, afraid it might come to light one day.

3.

As head of the Shan family, Shan Zhilan always kept himself in check and observed proper decorum, until a wicked enchantress appeared and shattered every last trace of his gentlemanly upbringing.

Before they married, his future wife was bullied and silently endured it. A ruthless glint flashed in her eyes as she smashed a wine bottle in a secluded place where she thought no one would see. In that moment, he felt he had found someone like himself.

So, on the day they registered their marriage, he said, "Do whatever you want. I'll take care of everything."

When he unexpectedly learned that she had once had a secret crush on someone, all kinds of dark, twisted thoughts grew wilder and wilder in his mind...

He wanted to brand his name all over her, so that he would be the only one in her heart.

On the night everything came crashing down, in a dim room, the man knelt on the soft bed, one knee raised, his bent body quietly enclosing the young woman. "Tell me, who do you like?"

**

"You sank into the stars and became mud. I'll nourish you with the Milky Way, so you can bloom forever."

Shan Zhilan

Blurb screenshot archived/2024.11.25

[Reading Guide]

Melodramatic wealthy-family romance | Both virgins | Flirtatious tension | Secret crush comes true | Female lead 21, male lead 26

· The female lead is mostly soft and delicate. Please don't read if that's not your thing!

· A secret crush comes true! The female lead knows her own worth and isn't meek!

· The male lead seems elegant and distinguished, but is dark and possessive underneath.

Please add my next book to your reading list

◆ Delicate and gentle * cunning and scheming

◆ Stealing someone's partner / Male lead openly flirts and secretly tempts / Male rivals compete / A fight to win her

He Yuchuan returned to the country just as his old friend's engagement party was taking place.

Amid all the excitement, he remained unchanged from beginning to end, holding a glass of wine and taking the occasional sip. He looked mature and elegant, with a languid air of nonchalance.

A friend came over and said, "Too bad you just got back. You missed quite a show..."

Only then did He Yuchuan glance over. The moment his eyes landed on the slender figure from behind, a flash of darkness passed through them. "Oh? What happened?"

-

They met again at his private party. The woman had a slender waist, snow-white skin, an upturned nose, and red lips, as if she had stepped out of an ink painting of Jiangnan.

She was poised and graceful, chatting and laughing with the person beside her, seeming especially distant from him.

No one saw the surging flames in his lowered eyes.

That night, under the deep darkness, He Yuchuan pinned her against a mirror and kissed her forcefully. "Wouldn't it have been better to come to me?"

"Can he do it as well as I can?"

-

Rumor had it that Second Young Master He was cold and heartless, and that no ordinary woman could easily catch his eye.

Yet his friends had repeatedly seen him carry a woman home late at night.

His friends in the same social circle joked around as they tried to guess what kind of woman he could cherish so carefully.

When he found out, he gently breathed against her rounded earlobe and chuckled softly. "Looks like changing the location tonight was the right call."

-

After a stretch of reckless nights, Ruan Feiyao decided to end their nighttime affair. This man was too good at bewitching her, and she had been lost in it for far too long. He was probably just looking for something new and exciting.

She didn't think she could control someone as dangerous and alluring as He Yuchuan.

That night, after being interrupted countless times while trying to say what she wanted, Ruan Feiyao once again bit down on her red lips as her body betrayed her will.

"Hmm? What did you just say, sweetheart? Say it again."

-

Ruan Feiyao had always believed that things between her and He Yuchuan began with their "attraction at first sight."

He Yuhuai could quietly find her sitting dejectedly in a corner, remember every one of her likes, and give her a level of thoughtfulness and consideration she had never experienced before...

She thought he was like that with everyone.

But she never knew that not just anyone could have him. From beginning to end, she was the only one he was determined to have.

It wasn't attraction at first sight, but a long-awaited opportunity he had been patiently waiting for.

Reading Guide:

· Ruan Feiyao (yue, fourth tone)

· Five-year age gap, grown-up push and pull, unhinged male lead with no sense of morality

· Everyday life among the wealthy, with a career plot. Please don't scrutinize the details.

Blurb archived in the cloud/2025.10.5

Theme: I can love you, but I love myself more