Gauze Skirt and Gentleman

At twenty years old, Yuan Ning discovered she was an illegitimate daughter. After the legal wife intervened, her supposedly warm home disintegrated.

Sent to New York for high school at sixteen, her bank accounts were now frozen, her apartment sealed, and her mother back home was kicked out. Mother and daughter realized that of all the houses and jewelry they had enjoyed until now, not a single item truly belonged to them.

As for Yuan Ning's high-end custom clothes and Birkin bags... sorry, all of it was marital property belonging to someone else. Overnight, she went from a pampered young lady in a glass dome to a homeless wanderer.

"Mom can't support your studies in New York alone. Why don't you come back? No matter what, we can still demand some alimony from your father." Yuan Ning shook her head. "Mom, I want to reclaim my old life. No, I want an even better life."

With a click, she hung up the phone and looked towards the brownstone mansion at the end of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, quietly nestled deep in lush greenery. It was a mansion even her father couldn't afford, and she walked towards it.

"Elias is the most gentlemanly man on the entire East Coast, Wynne. I hear you're studying fashion management at Parsons. I'm delighted you're willing to be his dressing consultant." Yuan Ning, wearing her last Dior suit to display her innate upper-class taste, shook hands with Mrs. Van Der Berg. "Theodora, it's a pleasure to work with you."

"I swear, you two will get along wonderfully."

Their first meeting confirmed Elias was a rare old-fashioned gentleman in New York. As Theodora had said, "We raised Elias according to the strictest aristocratic etiquette from childhood." He possessed an elegant and refined appearance: golden-brown curly hair, fair skin, and captivating blue eyes. Yuan Ning thought he would be easy to talk to.

"Miss Wynne, have you used this brooch?" Yuan Ning hadn't expected him to notice that she had only borrowed it for two hours. "I, I had a very important banquet, so I borrowed it for a moment. I apologize, Elias."

But then, Elias's gentlemanly demeanor changed. "Elias, no, no, you can't just choke me for this, h-h-h." Yuan Ning indeed had some ulterior motives for coming here. She wanted to maintain her former life and her former appearance. She navigated high society without anyone realizing she was bankrupt, determined to use every resource available.

He put her down, and she gasped for breath, clutching her throat. "I'm so sorry, Miss Wynne, I didn't mean to act like that. As compensation, how about I give you this brooch?"

He personally pinned the expensive diamond brooch to her chest. She tasted sweetness from him. She began to repeatedly try, and repeatedly gain. "Elias, you truly are the most gentlemanly man on the East Coast."

"You're welcome, my Wynne. You can get off my lap now and put my gauze skirt back down."

* The male lead is noble and pure.

* The two are evenly matched from beginning to end; the female lead will not allow herself to be harmed (the main text contains a little more backstory than the synopsis).

* The female lead didn't know she was an illegitimate daughter before and doesn't return home to fight for property afterward. She has her own world and career. Please don't criticize the illegitimate daughter aspect.

* The setting is circa 2000.