A Fatal Misstep

Bian Ying had been raised by the Zhou family since childhood. Her skin was as smooth as ice and jade, her eyes as cool as the moon: she was the very image of a beauty.

As Bian Ying grew up, the Zhou family elders quietly began to consider using her in a business marriage alliance.

Her intended match was said to be fat and oafish, a useless drunk with an illegitimate child outside the marriage.

Bian Ying refused and tried to call off the match, only for Madam Zhou to tell her, "The Zhou family has raised you for over a decade. It's time you repaid our kindness. Don't tell me you want to be ungrateful?"

With nowhere else to turn, Bian Ying thought of Zhou Yubai.

Zhou Yubai was Madam Zhou's son, gentle and refined, as handsome as jade, and always considerate toward Bian Ying.

Bian Ying knew Zhou Yubai liked her.

He was her only way out of the arranged marriage.

The night Zhou Yubai came home, Bian Ying gathered her courage and crept into his room in the dark.

Zhou Yubai was already asleep in bed. Bian Ying quietly lay down beside him, not daring to move.

Later, a strong arm reached over, pulled her beneath the covers, and rolled on top of her.

-

At dawn the next day, Bian Ying woke up thinking that she and Zhou Yubai were now officially together. They should talk about how to deal with Madam Zhou next.

She opened her eyes and met a pair of dark eyes, deep as a frigid pool. Her eyes flew wide, and she nearly cried out.

The man lying beside her had a sharp brow ridge and a broad forehead. His mature, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted frame was faintly visible beneath the thin quilt.

This wasn't Zhou Yubai. It was Zhou Yubai's uncle, and the true head of the Zhou family, Zhou Mianzhi!

Years ago, Zhou Mianzhi had taken her by the hand and brought her to the Zhou family, entrusting her to Madam Zhou.

He'd said he was busy with his studies, and that the First Madam was better suited to take care of her.

From then on, she had followed Zhou Yubai in calling him Uncle.

He rarely came back to the Zhou household, so they hadn't interacted much over the years. In her eyes, he was a man whose authority was not to be challenged.

And yet last night, the two of them...

Bian Ying couldn't face him. She forced out a smile more painful than crying.

She wanted to grab her clothes and run, but before her feet could touch the ground, Zhou Mianzhi pressed her back down...

"Uncle, why are you in Yubai's bed?"

"And why are you here?"

"…"

"Male lead's point of view"

1. That year, in the Zhou family's back garden, his nephew Zhou Yubai gazed for a long while at Bian Ying reading in the garden, then said to him, "Uncle, Bian Ying is a wonderful girl. I like her."

Zhou Mianzhi lifted his teacup. Tea fragrance curled into the air as steam rose. He lowered his eyes and thought for a long moment. "She really is a wonderful girl."

2. At some point, Bian Ying began appearing in Zhou Mianzhi's dreams.

Every time, she was crying in his bed.

By chance, Zhou Mianzhi slept in Zhou Yubai's bed.

That night's dream felt more real than ever before, and her tears seemed real too.

Older man | Uncle romance | Eight-year age gap | Size difference

A sweet, gentle darling who seduces without realizing it x a mature, dependable man with a strong desire for control, a slightly coercive streak, and an intense appetite

Both each other's first love, both virgins, each other's one and only

Blurb screenshot archived

Theme: Be self-reliant and love yourself.