Foster-care trope / dark and twisted / bittersweet / groveling chase
[Stubborn, cool younger sister vs. Scheming, heartless older brother]
In the height of summer, a fire breaks out in Nancheng.
At the risk of his life, Lin Yinan rushes inside and carries a girl out on his back.
The little girl wears a mask. After coughing several times, she grabs his clothes with a trembling hand. "Y-Yinan, save Yirou."
Lin Yinan removes her mask.
The moment he recognizes her, his face turns deathly pale.
He saved the wrong person!
The girl in his arms is not his sister.
He looks up again.
The fire has already engulfed the villa.
--
Two months later, her parents bring ten-year-old Chen Qingxue to Lin Yinan and tell him, "Yinan, from now on, Qingxue is your little sister."
Lin Yinan looks up and examines the little girl before him.
She looks timid, wears a school uniform, and keeps her eyes down, not daring to look at him.
He sneers. "A girl like her thinks she can be my sister?"
--
Eight years later, Chen Qingxue gets into university.
At twenty-six, Lin Yinan is a rising star in the business world, handsome and refined, with countless society girls enamored of him.
One night, during a heavy snowfall, Chen Qingxue gets drunk by accident and wanders into Lin Yinan's room.
Lin Yinan has been drinking too.
By the glass window, he loses control and pins her against it, his voice low and hoarse. "Xiaoxue, you're quite the schemer. I have to admit you're better than me."
Chen Qingxue cries as she explains, "Brother, it was just an accident."
Lin Yinan refuses to listen and silences her with a kiss.
He makes her cry as they do it.
--
From then on, every night Lin Yinan finds an excuse to visit Chen Qingxue's room, repeatedly taking her and stroking her back. "Our Xiaoxue is so beautiful."
Chen Qingxue begs him over and over:
"Brother, could you please let me go?"
Lin Yinan toys with her hair, his voice cold. "No."
Chen Qingxue feels like she's going insane.
Insane from Lin Yinan's torment.
--
Chen Qingxue is Lin Yinan's secret lover for five whole years.
After graduating from university, she joins his company and becomes his subordinate.
No one knows about their relationship except the two of them.
At work, she is a fresh graduate and a rookie.
He gives her plenty of advice, helping her grow from a junior employee into a department manager.
She thinks he's sincere about their relationship.
But one day, he brings a woman home for dinner and introduces her to his parents as his girlfriend.
After the meal, Chen Qingxue stands outside the study.
She overhears the conversation inside.
"I've never forgotten that fire. Qingxue put on Yirou's mask by mistake, and I saved the wrong person.
"I never intended for things between us to go anywhere."
At that moment, Chen Qingxue feels utterly foolish.
So all this time, he has believed she was responsible for his sister's death.
From beginning to end, he never had a shred of genuine feeling for her.
So she resigns from the company and leaves Lin Yinan.
--
A year later.
When they meet again,
she is teaching in a poor mountain village.
One day, the principal tells her a new teacher has joined the school.
In the office,
she sees Lin Yinan, whom she hasn't seen in a long time.
"Hello, I'm the new teacher."
--
That evening,
someone knocks on the door of her dormitory room.
The man barges in, the icy wind carrying snowflakes with him, and presses a burning kiss to her lips.
"Xiaoxue, I've missed you so much."
He reeks of alcohol.
Just like on that snowy night years ago.
--
A Little Extra
[Their Relationship Is Revealed]
During the years Chen Qingxue is single,
Lin Yinan's parents arrange a match for her.
A well-known lawyer from a top law firm.
Handsome, decent, and from a wealthy family.
On the day they meet,
she and the man are halfway through their conversation when Lin Yinan suddenly appears.
Smack!
He throws down a pregnancy test report.
"Xiaoxue, you're carrying my child. How can you still date someone else?!"
The Lin family parents are stunned.
Her blind date's face darkens instantly.
Chen Qingxue wants to punch him...
Note: Eight-year age gap, happy ending, both are each other's only partners.
Theme: Live well
