After the Rain [Rekindled Romance]

Coming soon: A Subject Beneath Her Skirt. Please add it to your collection ^O^

Rekindled love | Sweet and sour push-and-pull | Both leads are each other's first

In March, spring rain falls softly in Yicheng. Jin Yue's father dies in the line of duty, leaving him alone. A close friend of his father's takes him in at the Shen family home.

But that year, the Shen household is already in chaos. The moment Jin Yue steps inside, he walks in on the couple arguing and freezes in place.

His mother's voice grows sharper and sharper. Shen Li can finally take no more, and comes out of her room, her voice drowning out the argument.

That was the first time Jin Yue saw Shen Li. He remembers Shen Rong praising his daughter all the way there, saying how pretty and adorable she was.

But at that moment, she looked more like a little lion with its fur standing on end.

--

At first, Shen Li doesn't like Jin Yue. They are strangers living under the same roof.

Later, Jin Yue takes the blow when a cup accidentally flies from her mother's hand. Shen Li gathers all her pocket money and takes him to get treated.

Later still, Jin Yue comes to pick her up in the snow of midwinter, holding an umbrella. He replies to her messages at three in the morning.

All of it gradually thaws the ice between them, and they grow closer and closer.

In those first few years, everyone around Shen Li knows she has an older brother she can't stand. But after the college entrance exams, Shen Li agrees to go on a graduation trip with her friends to avoid someone. When everyone spots the hickey on her neck, they press her for the identity of the person responsible.

Shen Li stammers, recalling how drunk she was the previous night. She steels herself and gives Jin Yue's name, then stumbles through the words, "I think... I... forcefully kissed him."

Her relationship with Jin Yue was like a summer downpour: torrential and passionate, then over in the blink of an eye.

--

They meet again years later, when Shen Li is being followed and goes to the police station to file a report. That night, someone knocks on the door of her hotel room. Her assistant opens it and stares at the man outside. "Who are you looking for?"

Jin Yue gets straight to the point, gritting out Shen Li's name.

At the time, Shen Li appears before him with a bare face and dark circles nearly down to her jaw, looking disheveled and flustered.

After their breakup, Shen Li imagined countless ways they might meet again, but never this. She certainly never expected Jin Yue's first words to her after all these years to be, "Come with me."

Shen Li looks at him coldly. "Have you ever heard of a couple breaking up and then moving in with an ex?"

The word "ex" makes Jin Yue's eyes redden. He fights to contain the emotions surging inside him and looks at her with forced calm. "Maybe not an ex's home, but what about your older brother's?"

Not long after they reunite, Shen Li is invited to a drinking party and someone slips her something. Her assistant rushes over to take her away, but the discomfort is unbearable. On the verge of tears, the assistant asks Shen Li what to do.

With no other option, Shen Li grits her teeth and calls Jin Yue.

Coming-soon section

Next up: A Subject Beneath Her Skirt. Please add it to your collection.

Gorgeous, fierce older woman vs. wild, scheming younger man

Zhou Fei's life at twenty-four has been a mixture of joy and sorrow. The good news is that she has finally gotten a home of her own. The bad news is that she has just ended a four-year relationship.

But that's not all

Her stepfather's company goes bankrupt, and he dies suddenly after falling gravely ill. Her mother decides to go abroad for medical treatment, and before leaving, she can't stop worrying about her seventeen-year-old stepson.

After thinking it over, she decides to ask Zhou Fei to look after him.

Chen Ji's family has fallen on hard times. Before leaving the country, Ms. Zhao entrusts him to a woman who isn't related to him by blood and whom he has seen only a handful of times in six years.

She may be his older sister, but Chen Ji has never called her that.

Before leaving, Ms. Zhao gives him a serious talking-to. "Things are different now. You're living at your sister's place, so put away your young master's attitude. Just remember one important thing: don't ever make your sister angry. Listen to her."

Ms. Zhao repeats her instructions again and again, and Chen Ji nods along.

At first, Chen Ji only listens to Zhou Fei. Later, he becomes the one who listens to her least.

Other people use years to describe someone's age, but Zhou Fei uses it to describe someone's stamina.

When their passion is at its height, Chen Ji grits his teeth and demands, "You'll love me forever, right?"

But Zhou Fei only replies, "Not necessarily, but at least you're in my heart tonight."

He knows that Zhou Fei just met up with her first love.

Reading notes:

1. Shen is pronounced with the first tone.

2. Actress and police officer.

3. The flashbacks are told out of order. Ji is the present, and Yu is the past.

Theme: Build a harmonious home together