Sugar Simmered Low and Slow

[Stern, serious, genuinely fatherly male lead vs. sweet, slow-witted fake airhead]

[When an overprotective older brother meets a sister who adores her brother]

[Reunion after a long separation | Age difference, height difference, sweet romance | HE | SC]

"Spring and you are both gifts the world has given me."

Li Weizhen sees Yu Hengzhi again at her engagement party.

Amid the clinking glasses and lively chatter, her fiance drapes his suit jacket over another woman's shoulders.

That woman raises her glass and gives her a provocative smile. Li Weizhen, however, seems almost relieved. She turns and walks away.

In the surging crowd, she stumbles into a familiar embrace.

She looks up and sees that the boy has long since shed his youthful awkwardness. The man in his suit looks distinguished and aloof, seemingly beyond reach, but the smile in his eyes when he looks at her is just as warm as before.

He steadies her by the waist and says gently, "How are you still so clumsy?"

His scorching body heat seeps through her satin dress, flustering Li Weizhen. She suppresses the ache in her heart and addresses him with polite distance. "Mr. Yu."

His expression doesn't change. His dark eyes are unfathomable, but the hand at her lower back trembles. His voice is hoarse. "Zhenzhen, why don't you call me big brother anymore?"

Li Weizhen breaks free of his arm and boldly steps on his foot. "I don't have a brother like you."

After Li Weizhen's parents died, she was taken in by the Shang family.

They said Shang Mu and she were betrothed as children, and that she was destined to marry Shang Mu when she grew up, so it was only right for the Shang family to take her in.

But it wouldn't be quite right to say she was raised by the Shang family. In truth, she grew up with Yu Hengzhi, the butler's grandson.

When she first arrived at the Shang family home, she relived the nightmare of her parents dying before her every night.

Yu Hengzhi made her a glass night-light with his own hands and told her stories, soothing her to sleep day after day.

From little things like the fabric of her clothes to big things like helping her with homework and attending parent-teacher meetings, Yu Hengzhi took care of everything for her, always making sure it was done properly.

Until she was seventeen. After returning home from a chemistry competition, she discovered that Yu Hengzhi, who had promised to take her to the amusement park, had vanished without a trace.

Only Shang Mu remained, leaning against the doorframe and looking at her tear-streaked face as he cruelly pinched her chin. "Your Hengzhi-ge stopped wanting you long ago."

Yu Hengzhi has known since childhood that he is merely a blade the Shang family is raising for Shang Mu.

While his peers were still worrying about their quiz scores, he had already joined the Shang Group, handling their dirty business.

He has no particular preferences and no unnecessary feelings.

Everyone says he is mature beyond his years, serious and old-fashioned, like a cold robot programmed to follow instructions.

Yu Hengzhi doesn't think there's anything wrong with that.

Until one day, the Shang couple brings home a little girl.

She wears a frilly princess dress, and when she smiles, her lashes curve and her cheeks turn pink. She's like a soft little cake.

The little cake peeks out from behind Shang Mu, who is standing in front of him, and sweetly calls, "Hengzhi-ge."

It feels as if something has bumped against his heart.

He thinks he wants to buy this little sister every pretty dress in the world.

Bonus scene:

One day, a TV station wants to do an interview with Yu Hengzhi, but he turns them down, saying he is too busy. After the station asks repeatedly, his assistant has to fill in for him.

Sitting in the reception room next to the CEO's office, facing a row of cameras with their dark lenses, the assistant sits up straight and adjusts his glasses. "Our CEO is also a very calm and dignified person in his private life."

Just then, a clumsy intern accidentally pushes open the office door.

Everyone looks over.

Inside, Yu Hengzhi wears a fluffy bear hood and holds a box of cake out to the girl sulking in the CEO's chair. His eyes crinkle with a smile as he coaxes her softly. "The little bear sent me to ask: is Baby still mad?"

Everyone: ?

TIPS:

1. The leads have only sibling affection for each other before adulthood!

2. The male lead was forced to leave back then. He loves her so much!

3. The one who'll suffer for his misdeeds is the second male lead, Shang Mu.

4. This is still a warm and sweet story.

2024.12.28

Theme: Be brave in love