At Year's End, I Return to the Present

[Childhood sweethearts / mutual secret crush / everyday small-town life / light, sweet romance] [Carefree, sunny convenience-store owner × fatherly, calculating small-town cop] Xu Suimu quits her big-city corporate job without a backup plan and flees overnight to a coastal town in the south, where she inherits the old convenience store her grandmother left behind. She thinks she’ll be able to lie flat and live an easy life, but on opening day, the childhood sweetheart from across the street, who’s been looking after her since they were kids, catches her in the act. Liang Zhaojin is a local police officer. In his crisp uniform, cool and composed, he can scare off troublemakers from three blocks away just by standing outside the convenience store. Xu Suimu is hopelessly smitten by him in uniform, but she stubbornly denies it. “What are you looking at? Never seen a biological little sister who has different parents from you?” * Later, Auntie Wang from the neighborhood committee gets it into her head to set Xu Suimu up on a date. She’s been sitting with her blind date for less than five minutes when Officer Liang “happens” to patrol past. He strides over and taps the table with a cold expression. “Routine check. Let me see your ID.” Xu Suimu: ? Who goes to a cafe every day just to check people’s IDs?! * Everyone in town thinks Liang Zhaojin is raising Xu Suimu like his daughter. Only Liang Zhaojin knows that his notes app is packed with her name and all her likes and dislikes. Every plan he has for the future has only one person in it: Xu Suimu.