The Handsome Gentleman [The Second Male Lead Takes the Lead]

[Wealthy heiress × powerful older man with a mature charm]

Age gap | Forbidden attraction | An older man's long-dormant heart catches fire

1.

Everyone in their circle knew that the youngest daughter of the Cheng family, Cheng Lili, liked Yan Nanli.

The elegant, luminous Mr. Yan, however, spent lavishly chasing his first love, who had gone to Paris to study oil painting, all over the world.

In a fit of pique, Lili returned to Guangling to clear her head.

Her friends all urged Yan Nanli to coax her back. The bar's dazzling lights glinted in his charming smile. "She's so stubborn. She needs a few days to cool off."

The day Yan Nanli was pressured by his family to go to Guangling and persuade Lili to return to the city, his uncle happened to visit the Cheng family. In front of all the elders, he asked Lili, "Do you like it?"

Everyone present was astonished. Yan Nanli looked at the head of the Yan family, a man who never made exceptions, and for the first time, he panicked.

2.

Later, the night a concert let out, one of her friends argued with someone while defending her, and the group ended up at the police station.

In the rain, a black Bentley stopped outside. Its window lowered slowly, revealing Yan Nanli's proud, aristocratic chin. "Cheng Lili, how long are you going to keep this up?"

Lili knew she'd caused trouble and shivered in the exposed doorway, chilled by the wind.

Amid the cold wind and rain, the door opened. He walked against the light through the crowd,

so polished and composed he seemed to come from another world.

Then, in front of Yan Nanli and everyone else, he said to her, "Come with me."

In the car, they each had their own thoughts, and the atmosphere turned delicate.

"Miss Cheng, this outfit tonight..."

His gaze traveled down from her face, over her thin shoulder straps.

"It's beautiful enough to get you into trouble."

Lili bristled, but still wanted to beg him not to tell her family about the trouble at the station.

He leaned in and brushed her reddened eyelid with his lips. "What do you have to offer me in exchange, Miss Cheng?"

She tucked in her neck and looked at him pitifully, clutching her phone with its meager balance.

He curled his lips, his voice coaxing. "What I want may not be money."

3.

Lili thought that once she left Guangling, everything would fall back into place.

But in the cramped dressing room, he clamped a hand around her chin, his grip unreasonably strong.

"How many other people are there around you, Lili? Don't push me."

Lili complained under her breath, "A gentleman should use words, not his hands..."

He lowered his head, his thin lips stopping just short of hers. He smiled, refined and wicked.

"But I want to use both on you."

Blushing, she bit him. He gripped her waist and pulled her back into his arms.

He looked up at her, darkness surging in his eyes. "What should you call me now?"

She said, "Uncle."

He shook his head. "I'm not that old."

She asked, "Big brother?"

He smiled, his low voice brushing her ear. "With Yan Nanli as your point of reference, do I really seem like someone you can treat as an equal?"

She smiled too. "You're too old to behave this way."

[The carefully plotted little scene]

In the temple's main hall, a girl knelt before the Buddha.

Daylight illuminated her devout profile, and he watched her for a long time from outside the hall.

Amid the wafting sandalwood incense, he recalled the first time he'd seen her beneath the pear blossoms.

Back then, everyone said he was a proper gentleman, and she naturally believed them.

He had never believed in fate, but now he even wanted to bow his head and pray to the Buddha before him.

The girl turned around and raised her head. She saw him standing against the light, half his face hidden in shadow, his expression inscrutable. He smiled and said, "What a coincidence."

If love is a game, then I'd gladly lose to her.

Reader's guide:

1. A refined scoundrel of a second male lead rises to the top. The mature older man carefully plots his moves and steals the heroine away.

2. One-on-one / happy ending / both sexually inexperienced. A deep age-gap romance.

.

Theme: Equality and growth in love