Drowning in a Summer Night

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Cold and beautiful heiress x domineering, possessive, fatherly type

Zhu Jin x Xie Zhaozhou

Two strong personalities, locked in a push and pull | Marriage before love | He falls first

Zhu Jin regarded her marriage alliance with Xie Zhaozhou as nothing more than a transaction.

At their first formal meeting, she laid everything out: “Mr. Xie, there's already someone in my heart. Let's consider this marriage a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

After all, her previous relationship had been so passionate that everyone in the capital knew about it. Zhu Jin couldn't believe any man would be unmoved by that.

But the man only rolled his prayer beads between his fingers and nodded unhurriedly, showing no emotion at all. “I've heard about it.”

Only then did Zhu Jin realize that Xie Zhaozhou was a far more shrewd businessman than she'd imagined.

After all, she was the dazzling, stunning Fourth Miss of the Zhu family, while he was the aloof, distinguished heir to the all-powerful Xie family.

They both knew perfectly well how much self-interest and impropriety were mixed up in this marriage.

-

But later, Zhu Jin's words, “There's already someone in my heart,” became a thorn that couldn't be pulled out, burrowing deeper and deeper into Xie Zhaozhou's heart.

The harder he tried to pretend he didn't care, the more jealous he became, until he was going mad.

Zhu Jin and he were in sync at certain moments, and Xie Zhaozhou knew it was only at certain moments.

On countless nights, he watched her, his rough fingertips pressing against her lips. “What is it about him that's so good? Why are you so devoted to him?”

They saw each other at the office by day and in bed at night.

Even so, Zhu Jin would get drunk, hold him close, and whisper another man's name.

“Zhu Jin. You're cold by nature, and your heart is even colder. No matter how hard I try to warm you, will I never get through to you?”

-

Zhu Jin thought the world's opinion of Xie Zhaozhou was complete nonsense.

The man the media described as refined, proper, and self-disciplined would, in the middle of the night, leave her eyes glistening with tears.

He would watch her lose control, then bite and kiss the edge of her ear, saying:

“Baby, you're the one who said we should each get what we need.”

When Zhu Jin met Xie Zhaozhou, she was a wasteland.

Later, flowers bloomed.

-

[Bonus scene]

Lerui and Huandong had set their sights on the same prize once again.

Both sides pulled out every trick in the book, battling it out at the trade show. When the two executives stared at each other, their eyes blazed with hostility, daggers hidden beneath their gazes.

During a break in the event, in a cramped, deserted stairwell, a man's and a woman's breathless moans rose higher and higher in turn.

Her immaculate suit skirt was bunched above her thighs, her shirt collar pulled askew, and every kiss mark was hidden somewhere out of sight.

The woman spoke in a sweet voice. “Xie Zhaozhou, you were mean to me just now.”

“I wasn't.”

“You were!”

Xie Zhaozhou had no choice but to coax her with a smile. “Then how should I be punished?”

“Give the project to Lerui!”

“Dream on.” A kiss landed behind her ear, warm breath spilling over her skin as the man's voice turned husky. “I want both you and the project.”

Theme: Loving you is the meaning of a lifetime.