Plain Sorrow [Showbiz]

This book is also known as: Su Shang: The Ex Who Can't Sleep Through the Night

[Arrogant, scheming ex-husband x dramatic, beloved CEO]

Reunion after years apart / mending a broken relationship / ex-husband's arduous pursuit / one-on-one romance / sweet at first

Three years ago, Song Luan left without looking back, but his heart went hollow too.

He kept the champagne flute he'd painstakingly glued back together, the one Su Su had smashed at their engagement party.

He always remembered Su Su's words: "Song Luan, I love you. I really do. Remember that I love you."

He knew Su Su was the daughter of a wealthy family, but he never knew she'd returned to the Su family when she was seventeen.

He loved the strawberry candies Su Su made for him. After he left, Su Su gave up making them.

Through all the days and nights Song Luan spent trying to quit sugar, Su Su would look at the photo of the bloodstained champagne flute she'd pieced back together and cry.

When they met again, Song Luan started smoking once more, and the deep feelings he'd always had for the woman he'd never been able to have came rushing back!

"Honestly, between Sister Weiwei and your old flame, who do you like more, Brother Luan?"

Su Su had come to avoid the reporters. Just as she reached for the private room door, she heard the voices inside and stopped.

She'd come straight from a film set just to see Song Luan. She wore a simple white T-shirt and khaki cargo pants she'd found at the last minute.

With a baseball cap pulled low over her head, she lowered her gaze, standing out among the upscale club's patrons.

"Of course Brother Luan likes Sister Weiwei. Su Su is just an illegitimate daughter of the Su family."

"Exactly! She's divorced now. Who'd want a secondhand woman?"

"Brother Luan, is that true? I want to hear you say it."

Amid the taunts from everyone around them, Song Luan's company consultant, Mo Ningwei, opened her mouth to press him.

Song Luan lit a cigarette and silently blew smoke through his fingers.

Everyone knew that he'd left Xinghai City because Su Su had suddenly agreed to get engaged to someone else.

But no one knew that Song Luan had resolutely returned to [Xinghai] because she had finally gotten divorced.

"Brother Luan, why aren't you saying anything?" Someone beside him exclaimed at his silence. "You're no fun, Brother Luan. Don't tell me you still like her?"

Song Luan glared at the man, then came to his senses and gave a soft laugh. "How could I? Why would I like a secondhand woman?"

"I knew it! Sister Weiwei, did you hear? Brother Luan says he likes you more."

"All right, stop teasing Brother Luan and me," Mo Ningwei said. As one of the people at the center of the conversation, she handed Song Luan two glasses of red wine.

Song Luan took a champagne flute and swirled the wine inside. With a scornful look, he said coolly, "Love is like a glass. It shatters at the slightest touch."

Someone laughed, eager to stir things up. "Exactly! Remember how Su Su smashed a glass and broke things off with you on her engagement day? She was so full of herself. I bet she just can't get a man."

Song Luan clenched the glass. His expression darkened at the thought of Su Su's betrayal, and he chose to say nothing.

When he looked up again, he saw Su Su standing in the doorway. He hadn't noticed when she'd arrived.

One after another, the people in the room spotted her. The lively atmosphere slowly congealed, then gave way to an eerie silence.

Meeting Su Su's tear-filled gaze, Song Luan panicked. He quickly pushed Mo Ningwei away from his shoulder, stood up, and asked, "Su Su, what are you doing here?"

Su Su walked straight up to him and asked in a gentle voice, her tone calm, "I'm a secondhand woman? Is that right?"

Song Luan's throat bobbed. He called to her in a low voice, "Su Su, don't be angry. I was just..."

With everyone around them looking on mockingly, Su Su lowered her head to avoid his reaching hand. She slowly took off their matching bracelets and placed them in his palm.

"You like Mo Ningwei, so I... I wish you both a lifetime of happiness."

After saying this, Su Su turned quickly and strode toward the exit without looking back.

After three years apart, she'd become bold, flamboyant, and carefree. Even after getting married, admirers still lined up for her like cars in a parade.

After divorcing her weak-willed husband, Fang Junheng, she coldly turned down the marriage proposals of powerful heirs and rising stars in the capital's elite circles, one after another.

The day Song Luan returned to [Xinghai] with the Song family firmly in his hands, everyone knew him as a ruthless man, coldhearted and vicious to the extreme.

No one expected Su Su to casually post a message on Weibo an hour before the auction.

[I got the urge to make candy today. I wonder if anyone at the auction will be willing to pay a high price for it?]

That day, Song Luan said nothing. He sent people to surround Su Su's car.

In front of a crowd of reporters, he pushed through the throng, took off his suit jacket, and draped it over Su Su's shoulders.

"I'm having this candy, no matter what!"

"..."

The curious reporters broadcast the whole scene live online.

At the charity auction, Song Luan kept the bidding going until the item was sold, boldly pursuing her by throwing money around.

Su Su had sculpted a sugar figure of herself at eighteen. Song Luan won it at auction for three million.

When he proudly showed it off to Su Su, she turned her head with a mocking smile.

"I've changed my mind. Calling you a sucker would be an insult to the word."

"..."

[Warm-hearted senior x clingy, sweet junior]

Painful young love / female lead is a substitute / male lead secretly loves female lead / each other's first love / amnesia

After learning that her cousin Su Chong had nearly killed herself because of Liu Zifan's deliberate scheming before her wedding, Lin Yiyi felt an inexplicable anger weighing on her. She went out of her way to get close to him.

She schemed against Liu Zifan, and only after hearing his confession did she realize that meddling in other people's business had brought this on herself.

"Who were you talking to just now? Were you lying to me?" Liu Zifan's warm breath brushed against her ear. When she didn't reply, he spoke again, softly. "You don't like me?"

The girl in front of him suppressed her nerves and didn't dare speak. She could only let him grip her shoulders hard as he stared at her through clenched teeth.

"Say something!" Liu Zifan glared at her with cold eyes she'd never seen before and said sharply, "I never thought you'd throw yourself at me just to get back at your cousin."

Frightened, Lin Yiyi shoved him away. She crouched down, holding her head, and finally burst into tears. "I didn't! I'm not that stupid! I don't want anything to do with you!"

"So... you were just playing with me. No wonder you..."

"That's right, I was just playing with you. You deceived my cousin, so you deserve it!"

After hearing her explanation, Liu Zifan was so heartbroken he couldn't speak. But she gave up trying to salvage things and smashed the ceramic lucky doll she'd given him, which sat beside her.

By the time Lin Yiyi came to her senses, Liu Zifan had already started down the road away from her.

The young girl clutched her bloodied knee, curled up in pain, her breath trembling.

Liu Zifan stopped with the cotton swab in his right hand, then immediately shouted in frustration, "Lin Yiyi, what's wrong with you? Who told you to come here looking for me?"

At his reproach, Lin Yiyi quickly raised her tear-filled eyes and took a painful breath.

"I'm sorry. I was too stubborn. I didn't want to end up like this either."

"..."

She wasn't crying because of her injuries. It was because Liu Zifan had never been this harsh with her before!

"I'll leave first thing tomorrow morning. I came here to apologize. Actually, I..."

Lin Yiyi trailed off. She used to say she liked him every day, but now the words felt too ironic to say.

Liu Zifan understood how she felt. It was just that this time, he wouldn't give his affection and care away so easily again.

Later, after Lin Yiyi survived a brush with death, the two met again...

Lin Yiyi: "Hello, who are you?"

Liu Zifan: "..."

Synopsis written on July 22, 2025, and archived.

[Reading Guide]

1. First couple: The male lead is sharp-tongued but softhearted; the female lead is ruthless.

2. Second couple: The male supporting character is patient and devoted; the female supporting character is conflicted about love.

3. Third couple: The third male lead is gloomy and obsessive; the third female lead is vengeful and devoted.

4. The three couples' endings are [one HE / two OE / three BE].

5. Please follow and favorite my author page.

6. Weibo: @Yu Sheng Tao Bu Diao

Theme: A plain brush cannot depict the heart's secrets; one sheet of paper holds only the love of dreams.