-

💠 Wu Suowei (吴所为)

Age: 22

Role: The emotionally reckless, secretly sensitive protagonist.

Background: A recent university graduate with a degree in design and a part-time photographer. Dumped and humiliated by his girlfriend, Wu Suowei has nothing to lose and an ego to patch up. Quick-witted, sarcastic, and impulsive, he charges into a world he doesn't belong in — high finance, luxury suits, and iced-out CEOs — all for the sake of revenge.

Personality: Mischievous, talkative, wears emotions on his sleeve, but hides a deep vulnerability behind jokes.

Goal: Win over the man his ex left him for — and destroy her ego in the process.

Conflict: Falling for his “target” was never part of the plan.

💠 Chi Cheng (池晟)

Age: 25

Role: The cold, intimidating CEO who unknowingly becomes the object of Suowei’s revenge — and affection.

Background: Born into power and trained to carry it. The CEO of Chengshi Holdings, a leading investment and corporate development firm. He built his empire by 25 with sharp decisions, emotionless logic, and complete control. No one dares to question Chi Cheng — until Wu Suowei walks into his office like he owns it.

Personality: Emotionally guarded, composed, ruthless when necessary. Deep down, Chi Cheng is lonely — but he would never admit it, even to himself.

Secret: Beneath his cold façade is a man who craves genuine connection, even if he no longer believes he deserves it.

💠 Li Xinyue (李心悦)

Age: 24

Role: Suowei’s ex-girlfriend; elegant, ambitious, and emotionally strategic.

Background: She loved Suowei once — or at least loved the idea of someone who needed her. But when ambition called, she traded emotional comfort for social status. Now dating Chi Cheng for his power and promise, she views her past with Suowei as a chapter best left behind.

Personality: Poised, intelligent, calculating. Not heartless, but not sentimental.

Conflict: She’s not ready for Suowei to climb into the world she left him for.

💠 Ms. Shen (沈姐 / Shen Jie)

Age: 33

Role: Chi Cheng’s executive secretary and the silent wall that guards his world.

Background: No one survives long working under Chi Cheng — except Ms. Shen. Efficient, sharp-eyed, and loyal, she has been with him since the start. She sees through Suowei’s act immediately but chooses to watch, curious how far he’ll go.

Personality: Cold professionalism outside, hidden warmth and wisdom underneath.

Secret: She wants Chi Cheng to feel something again — even if it comes from chaos.

💠 Lin Ziyan (林子言)

Age: 23

Role: Suowei’s best friend and occasional moral compass.

Background: A freelance web developer with a laid-back attitude and a mouth that never stops. He watches Suowei’s descent into revenge-romance with horror, fascination, and reluctant support.

Personality: Chill, witty, always eating or coding. The type to say, “I told you so” with snacks in hand.

Dynamic: Comedy relief and emotional grounding. Knows Suowei better than anyone — including himself.

💠 Qin Jue (秦觉)

Age: 26

Role: Chi Cheng’s cousin and corporate rival.

Background: The second son of the Qin branch family and a board member of Chengshi Holdings. On the surface, he’s supportive, charming, and smiles too easily. Underneath, he’s ambitious and watching for weakness — especially in Chi Cheng.

Personality: Elegant, smooth-talking, dangerous in disguise.

Conflict: He suspects something’s changing in Chi Cheng… and plans to use it.

---

Wu Suowei stared at the woman sitting across from him, wondering how someone who once felt like home could now look so foreign.

Li Xinyue stirred her latte gently, as if she were mixing his pride into it. Her hair was curled perfectly, makeup subtle and expensive-looking. She looked like an art piece that had long been sold to someone who knew its worth — and he wasn’t the buyer anymore.

Her voice, when it came, was soft. Cold.

“I’ve moved on, Suowei,” she said without hesitation. “He’s… everything you’re not.”

Suowei blinked once, slowly. It stung more than he’d expected. He hated that it still hurt. Hated that he still remembered the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed at his stupid jokes, or how she used to finish his sentences like they were lyrics in a song only they knew.

Now, that same mouth was busy drawing sharp lines between what he was and what he wasn’t.

He gave her a smile. It didn’t reach his eyes. “Tall, rich, emotionally constipated?”

She didn’t laugh.

Not even a twitch.

She slid her phone across the café table, her manicured fingers never trembling. The screen was already lit, waiting for him to look.

A photo.

A man.

Tall. Handsome. Dressed in a gray tailored suit that looked like it had been poured over him. Sunglasses perched perfectly. Jawline cut like a blade. Behind him, a sleek black car gleamed like it had never touched dirt. But the car wasn’t what made Suowei flinch — it was the man himself.

He didn’t look real.

He looked expensive.

“Chi Cheng,” she said, her voice softer now, almost reverent. “CEO of Chengshi Holdings. Twenty-five. Runs three subsidiaries. Has never been in a scandal. You wouldn’t understand that world.”

Suowei stared at the screen. The man looked like a sculpture made of ice and ambition. His first thought wasn’t jealousy. It wasn’t even anger.

It was curiosity.

What kind of man could steal Li Xinyue’s heart and not even bother to look at her while doing it?

“You’re right,” Suowei murmured, pushing the phone back toward her with two fingers. “I don’t understand that world…”

He stood slowly, brushing the crumbs of his untouched croissant from his pants. The coffee cup remained full, just like the words he hadn’t said.

“…Yet.”

She narrowed her eyes at that. Something flickered in her expression — confusion? Amusement? Regret?

But he was already walking away, hands deep in his coat pockets, heart thudding like war drums in his chest. A strange cocktail of humiliation, heartbreak, and adrenaline burned through him like gasoline licking flame.

Outside, the wind cut through his coat like it had claws. The city moved around him — fast, distracted, heartless.

Cars honked. A bus splashed through a puddle. Pedestrians scrolled past him with earbuds in and eyes glazed. Nobody noticed the man frozen on the sidewalk, still replaying a breakup that hadn’t even made a sound when it shattered.

He tilted his head back and looked at the sky. Gray. Cold. Unbothered.

If Li Xinyue wanted a prince made of marble and money?

Fine.

Then he’d steal the prince. Break the crown. Burn the throne.

And make the damn prince fall in love with him.

So that one day — one ordinary, painful day — Li Xinyue would scroll her perfect little phone and see them together.

And taste her own damn medicine.

💊

Suowei exhaled, lips curling ever so slightly.

Game on.

---

The Chengshi Holdings building looked less like an office and more like a monument built to intimidate the poor. Glass and steel gleamed under the morning sun, each floor stacked like a promise to the sky that power always climbs higher.

Wu Suowei adjusted the collar of the suit he borrowed — slightly oversized, the fabric a little too shiny. He had tried to slick his hair back like those emotionless businessmen in dramas, but a stubborn cowlick curled at the top no matter how hard he pressed it down.

A security guard gave him a once-over as he passed through the revolving doors. His shoes squeaked on the marble floors. Everyone around him walked fast and talked in low voices — if they spoke at all. It felt like entering another dimension, one where emotions weren’t just hidden, they were erased.

Suowei’s fingers tightened around the handle of his messenger bag. He muttered under his breath.

“Okay. Act cool. Like you belong here. You're a young professional. Not a college dropout with revenge issues and a fake resume.”

The receptionist barely looked up as he approached the desk. She had the kind of sharp eyeliner and expression that said she could file a lawsuit just by blinking.

“Position you’re applying for?” she asked, tapping her keyboard.

“Executive Floor Inventory Intern,” Suowei said smoothly, pulling out his falsified resume with a plastic smile.

Her eyebrows rose just slightly. “Intern? On the 68th floor?”

He leaned forward just a little. “I have… strong ambitions.”

She stamped a badge and handed it to him without further comment. As he pinned it to his chest, she offered a polite warning.

“Most people don’t last a week up there. Good luck.”

The elevator opened with a soft chime. Suowei stepped inside, took a deep breath, and pressed the number 68. The doors began to close—

—only to open again, smoothly and without sound.

A man stepped inside.

Tall. Perfectly tailored suit. Sharp jawline. No cologne — just the faint clean scent of something expensive and dangerous.

Chi Cheng.

Wu Suowei felt his breath hitch, but forced himself to exhale through his nose.

The CEO didn’t look at him. Didn’t acknowledge him. He was reading something on his phone, expression unreadable, posture rigidly perfect. His presence filled the elevator like ice spreading across glass — cold, silent, commanding.

The doors closed. The silence was suffocating.

“Floor 68,” Chi Cheng said flatly, as if speaking to himself.

Suowei swallowed, then said without thinking, “Your voice is colder than the elevator.”

It slipped out — half joke, half nerves. Instantly, he wanted to bite his tongue off.

Chi Cheng slowly looked up.

His eyes were… unreadable. Dark, unreadable, and cold. Like storm clouds behind a two-way mirror.

“What department are you with?” he asked, voice low and emotionless.

“Inventory intern,” Suowei answered, plastering on a grin. “Temporary. But I grow on people fast.”

Chi Cheng blinked once. The kind of blink that didn’t mean tiredness — it meant calculation. Evaluation.

The elevator dinged softly. Floor 68.

Without another word, Chi Cheng stepped out and walked down the long glass hallway.

Suowei stared at his back, wondering how a man could make silence so goddamn loud.

“Try not to rot before that happens,” Chi Cheng said over his shoulder, not looking back.

Suowei blinked. Did he just—?

Ms. Shen appeared beside him like a ghost, hands clasped, expression bored but perfectly professional. She wore a dark suit and moved with the elegance of someone who could either file your taxes or bury your body, depending on her mood.

“You’re under Logistics. I’ll walk you there.”

“Oh. Okay, thanks, Miss…”

“Shen. Don’t wander. Don’t speak unless spoken to. And above all…” She paused as they turned a corner.

“Don’t annoy the President.”

Suowei turned to look at Chi Cheng’s office door as they passed it — tall, matte black, perfectly shut.

He smirked.

“Too late.”

---