Modern romance + showbiz + workplace + a woman’s personal growth + intangible cultural heritage
She once looked up at a light from the shadows. Then she learned to shine on her own.
Dedicated to everyone who has grown in the dark: you deserve to be loved, and you deserve to become a light.
Lin Wan always knew she was the one her family loved less. Her parents’ eyes were always on her younger brother. She got used to giving way, walking home alone at night, and believing she wasn’t worthy.
As a student, Gu Huai was the only light in her life. She watched from the shadows as he played basketball, read, and dazzled everyone on his way to someone else. Eight years of unrequited love earned her one sentence: “I’ve only ever thought of you as a classmate.”
After four years struggling to make it in showbiz, she’s still a nobody. Then, in Suzhou, in a century-old garden, she meets Shen Qingzhou, a man of few words who quietly shows up whenever she needs him.
He teaches her how moss grows from a corner of a wall, how to wait for the rain to let up, and that some love doesn’t have to be admired from afar. It can walk beside you.
And when Gu Huai finally looks back, when she finally wins her trophy, when everyone assumes she’ll run toward the bright future she’s waited so long for, she realizes that the true light was never somewhere else.
I cried while reading this book, it's so good