DaoistgLEwUX

Zhong Shuning, the adopted daughter of the Zhong family, was ousted from her home on the very night her fiancé arm-in-arm with a new lover topped entertainment headlines.
 
Scandals swirled around her as she later became entangled with the most powerful man in the city. Society mocked her as nothing more than a passing plaything for Mr. He's whims.
 
But what none realized was this:
 
The moment he laid eyes on her,
 
he conceived a scheme as audacious as moonlight poaching —
 
to steal the moon that rightly belonged to the heavens.

Orchestrated Romance

July's scorching sky poured liquid fire, yet the rain that drenched Zhong Shuning's skin clung like a layer of frost. She knew her adoptive parents' disdain ran deeper than winter - they'd just cast her aside like rotten fruit to preserve their precious social standing.

The dance studio's rejection notice came as no surprise. The message from the orphanage director's trembling voice confirmed it: "Your sponsorship's been revoked."

Raindrops blurred the phone screen as she stumbled through the elite enclave. Luxury cars glided past like steel predators, their drivers avoiding eye contact with the soaked figure huddled under a broken awning. Even the city's opulence mocked her fall from grace.

"Get out!" Zhong Zhaoqing's roar still echoed in her skull. The memory of his thrown agate incense burner cutting through flesh and bone made her flinch. They'd stripped her of everything - ballet, dignity, even the right to grieve.

A flicker of movement pierced the downpour. Black tires screeched to a halt, their hubcaps gleaming like predator eyes. The umbrella descended like a guillotine blade, yet instead of death, warmth radiated from its bearer.

"Still playing victim?" He Wenli's voice cut through the storm, rich as aged bourbon. His tailored suit absorbed the rain like a second skin, the emerald signet ring on his finger blazing like a cursed jewel.

Zhong Shuning's laugh was raw as shattered glass. "After tonight, I'm truly destitute." She gestured to the empty sidewalk where her life's remnants lay scattered - broken dance shoes, discarded perfumes, the final shred of her former self.

He Wenli's gloved hand captured her chin with surgical precision. "You misunderstand." His breath carried the metallic tang of impending storm. "You've never been more valuable."

The umbrella tilted, shielding her from the rain's assault. In its shadow, she saw truth - this wasn't rescue. It was a predator circling wounded prey.

As their lips met, thunder rumbled overhead. The world dissolved into sensory overload - bergamot and rain, silk and blood, the promises of a new kind of prison wrapped in velvet darkness.

chapter 10