[Little Bird x Evil Dragon] [Nine-Year Age Gap] [Soapy Drama] [She Runs, He Chases]
Wen Xuci VS. Shen Duo
Fussy Little Tease VS. Possessive Daddy Type
One-line blurb: The dragon lost his treasure
[1]
Wen Xuci thought it all began that day at Langxuan Residence, when she accidentally trespassed on a man's private domain.
The exquisitely carved stained-glass window swung open from within. Shen Duo looked at her as if she were a fragile creature wandering into a beast's territory, seeming to foretell the hopeless course of the long entanglement between them.
She was the prey, while he saw himself as the hunter.
Little did she know, this vast web had already been laid while she remained oblivious.
The evil dragon locked the little bird away in a gilded cage, a fantastical forest built on indulgence and luxury, watered with his affection. She could not escape.
[2]
Shen Duo, head of the Shen family in Huajing, seized power from his own uncle with ruthless methods. Everyone knew him as a fearsome figure in the capital.
Though exceptionally handsome, he was not easy to get along with, and no one dared provoke him.
Yet this proud, cold-hearted man would let Wen Xuci tug at his tie and drag him away from a banquet, merely indulging her with a smile.
And when passion overtook him, he would shed his ruthlessness, his voice trembling as he repeatedly asked the girl, "Ci Bao, you're mine."
But one day, the carefully pampered little bird still flew away.
The evil dragon went mad.
[3]
When she was found in her New York apartment, Wen Xuci finally let out the breath she had been holding. She had known this would happen.
Under the dim yellow light of the stairwell, she looked at the man's bloodshot, exhausted eyes and accused him, each word like a blade: "I really regret it. I shouldn't have gone to Langxuan Residence that day! Then our paths would never have crossed!"
At her words, Shen Duo's jaw tightened. He remained silent for a long while, every emotion converging in his chest, stagnating until it became an illness. His fingers twitched, instinctively searching for a cigarette, before he remembered he had quit long ago because she didn't like it.
Silence rose like an invisible barrier between them.
At last, Shen Duo spoke hoarsely. "Ci Bao, you're wrong. We didn't first meet at Langxuan Residence."
"Our paths crossed the moment you called me Brother Zongming."
The flagstone path, the hazy drizzle: the Peach Blossom Spring, the utopia, buried deep in his memories.
Wen Xuci had simply forgotten.
Reader's guide:
1. At first, Ci Bao likes someone else. Shen Daddy is no good, breaking up the couple and stealing her away.
2. Since this is a wallflower romance, our Ci Bao's main goal is to drive Shen Daddy crazy and wear him down. He deserves it, so don't feel sorry for him.
3. For a long time, Shen Duo's love goes unanswered, and he suffers both emotionally and physically. He deserves that too.
4. [Bed] Early on, Shen Duo takes the lead as her teacher. Later, Shen Daddy has to do whatever our Ci Bao says.
5. Shen Duo's courtesy name is Zongming. He and Ci Bao knew each other as children.
6. At the start, Ci Bao is 18 and Shen Duo is 27.
7. Soapy drama, soapy drama, soapy drama! This is an unrestrained work, so don't overthink it. The capital-city setting is fictional, and it has a happy ending!
8. The title comes from Wen Tingyun's "Geng Lou Zi: The Willows Stretch Long": "Wild geese startle and rise from the border; crows take flight over the city; golden partridges adorn the painted screen."
Blurb screenshot dated 2024.12.21; outline archived 2024.03.03
Theme: I love you, even if you don't
