Waiting at the Corner Cafe

Male Lead: Gu Jingshen, a returning investment banking executive. He looks cool and distinguished in a perfectly tailored dark suit, with an incisive gaze sharpened by years in the business world. Yet when he undoes his top button, a rare casualness shines through. Decisive and stern on the outside, he is tender and devoted at heart, with a gentle side rooted in his childhood ties to the small town. He may seem to be waiting passively, but this reunion has been a long time in the making. Around the woman he loves, he lets down his guard and reveals his doting, possessive side, all while insisting otherwise.

Background: His family once lived in the small town, but they moved away after a turn of events. He has always remained attached to his old home. His return is not only about expanding his business; he is also quietly searching for the girl who caught his eye years ago. The café on the corner is the “coordinate of fate” he has chosen.

Female Lead: Xia Nian'an, owner of the café on the corner and a local guardian of folk art. She has a gentle air about her in her light beige knit dress, and faint calluses on her fingertips from coffee-making and painting.

Personality: Gentle and quiet, yet lively. She is observant and can read people’s emotions from the smallest details. Though she seems content with a peaceful life, she is resilient at heart. She warms the town with the aroma of coffee and her love of art, and approaches romance with a young woman’s shyness and sincerity.

Background: Her family has lived in the town for generations, preserving folk crafts that are on the verge of disappearing. She has turned her café into a “warm haven” for the town. It is her livelihood, but also a way of waiting for an echo of an old friend who exists only in her grandparents’ stories.