In Name Only

Sponsorship romance | Twelve-year age gap | Gentle, controlling male lead

“Everyone calls it sponsorship, but really, it’s love.”

When she was eight, she met Kong Mingqian. He was a good man who rescued her on a whim.

When she was eighteen, after ten years of his unwavering support, she placed fourth in the province-wide exams and eagerly went to Beijing to see him.

Later, they got together. He was wonderful, gentle and courteous, giving her anything she wanted.

But behind closed doors, she heard him tell someone, “After she graduates, I’ll give her a dowry and find her a good husband. Then I’ll discuss a marriage alliance.”

Her heart shattered. “Don’t you love me?”

He only smiled and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Jinjin, you’re still too young to know what love is.”

She was so furious she cried. “Right, I don’t know as much as you, you old bastard! You can keep a clear head once we’re out of bed, but you sure don’t talk like that when we’re in bed!”

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Later, she left with someone else, and Kong Mingqian got his wish and entered a marriage alliance with a suitable partner.

But in the middle of the night, when he saw her smiling face in an intimate photo with someone else on a foreign social media site, it felt as if a piece of his heart had gone missing.

He had always been proud and would never make himself grovel, even when trying to win her back.

He set his sights on the man currently by her side and went after him on both the personal and professional fronts. Calm, efficient, and unscrupulous, he made the man’s life a complete mess.

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Duan Jinru thought the man had cheated on her. She broke down and fought with him, and Kong Mingqian arrived just in time to stand up for her and bring her back.

She felt guilty, thinking she had caused him trouble again. She apologized, and he readily accepted it, smiling as he said, “I’ll always be there for you.”

Then one day, the woman he had sent back to the country to seduce that man returned and told her, in tears, what the man in her bed had really done.

Only then was she stunned.

It turned out she had never understood him at all.

[Reader advisory]

1. Happy ending

2. The male lead is only engaged, not married. He stays single after the breakup; the female lead doesn’t.

Next novel:

Rekindled love | Young heir to a corporate empire x cool, pure-hearted beauty

They had been together for four years, and Lin Jingqi’s mother had been hospitalized for those same four years. The hospital bills were exorbitant, and Qin Xiao paid every last one.

He also covered her tuition and living expenses, and bought her luxury goods one after another.

He gave her whatever she wanted, and even shoved things into her hands when she said she didn’t want them.

Qin Xiao was a young heir to a powerful family, while Lin Jingqi was just an orphan. Everyone said they weren’t right for each other.

Lin Jingqi acted as if she hadn’t heard them.

Qin Xiao didn’t care at all. He would just laugh and say, “It’s only right for me to provide for my future wife.”

-

But after college graduation, she suddenly said they should break up. Her first love was in England, and she was going to find him.

With her clean, innocent face, she was as ruthless as could be.

Qin Xiao was furious. He cornered her against a wall. “Your mother’s dead, so you don’t need my money anymore, and now you want to run? How much have I spent on you over these four years? Want to calculate how much you owe me? You’re so proud, after all.”

Lin Jingqi met his gaze calmly. “I never asked you to spend money on me. You begged me to let you spend it.”

“Fine!”

Qin Xiao was so furious that his throat tasted of blood.

-

When she returned to the country, she joined a newly established investment firm.

Qin Xiao sat across from her, playing with her resume in his hand. His stern face held a faint, mocking smile. “Miss Lin, long time no see.”

Lin Jingqi touched her leg beneath the table. Under her soft trousers were the stretch marks left by the swelling caused by her illness.

She managed a faint smile. “Long time no see.”

-

[Reader advisory]

1. Happy ending

2. They were in the same year at school. The male lead is one year older than the female lead.

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Theme: Be really good at being yourself