[Well-mannered on the outside, possessive and scheming underneath x seemingly fragile, helpless little white flower, but actually cunning and vindictive beauty]
Just before the campus heartthrob confessed to him, Bai Zhou suddenly awakened and realized he was nothing more than a malicious cannon-fodder character in a sweet romance novel, there to highlight the resilience and kindness of the protagonist, the fake young master.
The confession scene before him was also meant to make him fall in love, so that he wouldn't threaten the protagonist's position in the Xie family.
Just as in the original novel, he accepted the confession again, his face flushed as he tremulously took the protagonist top's rose in front of everyone.
After that, he let the plot play out, leaving him neglected and scorned, framed and pushed into a pool, and watching as the gift he brought on the protagonist top's birthday was thrown into the trash...
But unlike in the original novel, he didn't hysterically demand an explanation. He simply picked up his sincere feelings in silence, his body trembling as he put on a broken expression and let a perfectly timed tear fall.
In the end, he got drunk in a corner and poured his heart out to a stranger, making sure to reveal the brows beneath his black-rimmed glasses, so much like Madam Xie's, and a smile that made people ache for him.
"I'm always the one who gets abandoned."
Bai Zhou had practiced that smile in front of a mirror countless times. He didn't dare bet that the man before him would take the bait, so he kept showing up in front of him again and again.
And the person he was after was Xie Lingchuan, the Xie family's adopted son, who had been given the position of the group's heir and was also the mastermind behind the whole story.
Xie Lingchuan lifted Bai Zhou's chin and asked, "Xiao Zhou, what is it you want? Tell your big brother."
Bai Zhou lowered his eyes obediently. "I want the impostor gone from the Xie family."
And I want the entire Xie Group. I want everything that belongs to me.
He needed the support of this big brother in name, so he showed his most vulnerable, easily bullied side. But it seemed he'd taken things too far...
Bai Zhou played the little white flower to perfection and thrived under Xie Lingchuan's protection. But one day, he ran into Xie Lingchuan while sobering up at the back door of a bar.
"So this is what Xiao Zhou is really like? Dyed hair, drinking, earrings... and that thing on your eyebrow."
It was an eyebrow piercing. He actually had a navel piercing, too.
He didn't dare tell Xie Lingchuan. But now his little white flower image had completely fallen apart. Bai Zhou hardened his heart. Since he'd been exposed, there was no reason to stay.
*
"Is there still someone else in Xiao Zhou's heart? Are you still in love with him?"
He'd used his convenient big brother and walked away, but underestimated Xie Lingchuan's obsessive, possessive nature. In the end, he was locked up in a dark room, made to endure the man's possessiveness.
"No... I love you most, Big Brother."
"Then which big brother does Xiao Zhou love the most?"
Bai Zhou bit Xie Lingchuan hard on the shoulder, then shouted into his ear, "You! I love you, I love you most, okay?!"
*
Content warnings
1. They are not biologically related; age gap, older top, happy ending, includes a locked-room plotline.
2. Both are physically and emotionally devoted to each other; five-year age gap.
3. Neither lead is a perfect person.
4. Lots of melodrama, fictional modern city setting, details aren't meant to be scrutinized.
5. Before getting together with Xie, Xiao Zhou had already broken up with his boyfriend. He'd planned it that way from the start.
6. Sweet, not angsty, not angsty.
7. Tentative; this may change before the story begins.
Recorded on March 12, 2026
Theme: Ordinary people working hard to make a living
