[Down-and-Out Heiress x Sleazy, Suave Power Player from Beijing's Elite]
[Financial Support | Bittersweet Angst | Guiding Daddy | Chasing His Wife to the Crematorium | One True Pairing + Happy Ending | 10-Year Age Gap]
[Writing progress: 15,000 words (I rewrote the opening once, which cost me some time)]
[Starting after 300 favorites]
1.
To raise enough money for her mother's surgery, Shen Shiyi set aside her pride and sought help from an old friend of her father, who was now in prison.
She felt as if someone had set her up. After making the rounds, toasting the uncles and older gentlemen, she hadn't managed to borrow a single cent. In the end, she had no choice but to turn to Yang Huailin, seated at the head of the table, and speak to this mysterious man who had barely said a word all night.
Yang Huailin's narrow eyes sized her up several times before he gave a faintly satisfied smile. He said he could lend her as much as she needed, but he wanted a girl like her to be his companion.
Shen Shiyi trembled with shame and anger.
She knew all too well what the job entailed, but for her mother's surgery, she had no other choice. She could only agree.
2.
Yang Huailin had lied to her.
He didn't make her do the sordid things she'd expected. He simply kept her by his side and took meticulous care of her.
For four whole years, he never let anyone lay a finger on her. His gentle care was like a slow-acting poison, quietly eroding the defenses in her heart until she sank deeper and deeper. It wasn't until she confessed her love for him at her graduation ceremony that he told her he had already arranged a marriage for her.
Clutching the ring she had spent so long preparing, she confronted him with red-rimmed eyes. Why had he handed her over to someone else?
His expression was so cold, as if they hadn't spent four years together day and night and were strangers meeting for the first time. "I pampered you and loved you for this very day."
"Shen Shiyi, when did I ever say I wanted to be with you?"
3.
She tore up the agreement she'd signed with Yang Huailin herself, took out a loan to pay the compensation, and left with a clean break. Then she threw herself into her work.
In just two years, she went from a clueless newcomer in the working world to a PM who could hold her own.
At the thank-you banquet after her roadshow, she forced a smile as she presented the investors with pastries she'd made herself. But one of them dug up her sordid past and mocked her. His laughter hadn't lasted long before a phone call wiped the smile off the ringleader's face. The company's chairman was very interested in Shen Shiyi's project and had invited her upstairs to discuss it in detail.
Anxious, she knocked on the door. The moment she saw who was sitting on the Italian-style sofa, the tall, striking man she'd hoped never to see again, she wanted to run.
Yang Huailin's gaze was frighteningly cold. "Didn't you say you'd never cook for a man?"
"I've changed. Is that not allowed?"
"You're lowering yourself this much just to get him to invest in your project?"
"I want to!"
He gritted his teeth and swallowed the words, "I don't want you to," before pulling her tightly into his arms. "Shishi, come back."
I can't bear to see you suffer.
Bonus Scene:
"Get lost, you bastard! Affection that comes too late is worthless. Where were you before?"
"Shishi, you were too young back then. I couldn't make a move."
Theme: Even a terrible man can have a genuine heart
