Love in Jinan is an original nonfiction novel posted by the internet user “Smiling Warmth” in July 2006 in the “Journey Together” section of the Tianya Community.
Drawing on the author’s own experiences in love, it tells the beautiful love story of two ordinary yet unique women, “Guan Yang” and “Xiao Xin,” in the City of Springs, Jinan. The story attracted a devoted following online. Later, afraid that people would uncover her identity and disrupt her life, the author deleted the post and disappeared from the internet.
Even so, the impact their story had on readers, especially women who fell in love with women, was immeasurable. To this day, it is still regarded as a legend in the world of this kind of love.
This autobiographical nonfiction novel was posted on the Tianya Community by the internet user “Smiling Warmth” in 2006. It tells the author’s beautiful love story with another woman in the City of Springs, Jinan. With its humorous, sunny style, it is considered a classic romance by many readers.
The story is divided into three parts:
Spring I: The story of Guan Yang and Xiao Xin. After graduating from graduate school, they go through a series of experiences, including a period of mutual attraction, moving in together, and coming out, before finally earning their families’ acceptance and living happily together.
Spring II: The story of Guan Yang’s good friends Xiao Wai and Xun, two equally remarkable women who find their way to each other after waiting four years.
Spring III: The story of Guan Yang and Xiao Xin’s lives from the beginning of middle school, showing how their feelings developed step by step and giving us a deeper understanding of their relationship.
Although he lacks the torment of realism, perhaps because of his parents' open-mindedness, he always looks happy and joyful, and he can see the shadow of his own school days in the text. There are very few two-way trips, which is fortunate for the protagonist. In reality, there are too many uncertain factors in love in student days. Looking back to recall, the smile that once looked back really breeds a lot of beauties in my heart, and then it just fades away.