[Heartless beauty x uptight, restrained engineer who's been carrying a torch for years. A reunion after a long separation, rekindled love, and a groveling hero chasing his wife]
In 1998, there was a cheap inn in the alley behind Beicheng Hospital, where a night's stay cost two yuan.
Zhong Yurao was a long-term tenant at the inn: young, beautiful, with big waves in her hair and low-rise pants.
People in the neighborhood would call out to her amid the everyday bustle: "Miss Zhong, just getting off work?"
Zhong Yurao would smile, unbothered.
The power went out. Xu Min, a railway engineer from Jiangcheng on a business trip in Beicheng, opened his window and studied blueprints by moonlight when a waft of cigarette smoke suddenly drifted over.
He raised his eyes and met the neighbor's gaze, full of indescribable allure.
She was leaning against the windowsill, moonlight falling over her as she smiled.
"Hey, I heard you do repairs?"
Xu Min thought for a moment, then didn't deny it.
"The pipe in my shower is broken. It keeps dripping and making a racket. Can you fix it?"
Xu Min wanted to say that he repaired railways, not plumbing, but... he parted his lips. "I can fix it."
Zhong Yurao walked closer and held out her palm. "But I want to take a shower right now. Could you lend me a yuan so I can go to the bathhouse?"
Xu Min took out a ten-yuan note and gave it to her.
That night, Zhong Yurao came to Engineer Xu's door with wet hair and a fragrant scent, leaning against it as she asked, "I spent all the money. How about I pay you back with myself?"
Xu Min wanted to tell her not to say things like that, but she put her arms around his waist, pushed him toward his windowsill, rose onto her toes, and kissed him.
Once he was caught up in the moment, she mischievously slipped the change down his collar. Before leaving, she flashed him a smile. "Don't talk to me after this. Everyone says women who show their waists are no good."
But there was no after this. Xu Min lingered in that alley for six years, until the buildings were demolished and leveled. He never heard another word about Miss Zhong.
This dazzling dream carried on until 2008, when Xu Min saw her on television: the megastar Zhong Yurao.
When Xu Min appeared in her life again, Zhong Yurao had been bound for years by a contract that left her with only two choices: become a sex symbol or pay an astronomical penalty.
In the pouring rain, a car stopped in front of her, its headlights illuminating the muddy road.
She got into the back seat and heard his restrained offer: "Money can solve this problem, and I happen to have some."
Zhong Yurao smiled. "How about I pay you back with myself?"
She thought this serious, proper man would tell her off for saying such things. But the powerful engineer in the back seat said in a low voice, "Then don't change your mind halfway through this time."
He looked at her very seriously. "Rao-Rao, I'm not young anymore."
If she ran off again, he didn't have many more decades to search for her.
Zhong Yurao's heart trembled.
But that night, Zhong Yurao painted the blank blueprints he had laid out with dazzling color, and he asked her questions over and over.
"Are you leaving again?"
"How many more years will I have to spend looking for you next time?"
"Are you staying quiet because you're thinking of how to fool me?"
"Will you still be here when I wake up?" Watching her silent face, he held her gloomily and moved them somewhere else to continue. "Then let's just not sleep."
Theme: Love you can proudly show off
