The Valley Is Burning

[Women's Rights Lawyer X Pop Music Superstar]

Years later, Jiang Youjian still couldn't get tickets to Xi Lin's concert.

She stood outside the venue, singing along with tens of thousands of people inside, just like all the other ordinary fans.

As the lights flashed and the sound surged around her, those familiar melodies suddenly brought back a memory: when she was seventeen, a mysterious, breathtakingly handsome man came to her small town and stayed at her family's hot spring inn. That was the first time she met Xi Lin. He dazzled her, bringing light to her lonely girlhood.

Winter came unusually early that year, with blizzards day after day.

The man was tall and slender, distinguished and elegant, utterly out of place among the townspeople.

He kept to himself, carrying a sketchbook into the mountains to paint from life, and rarely said a word.

Jiang Youjian thought he was a gloomy painter, searching for inspiration in the town.

One evening, the inn lost power, and only a single oil lamp remained lit inside.

He handed her a CD shimmering with silver.

"Is this my birthday present?"

"You could say that. It's an unreleased master recording."

In the lamplight, she saw the album title scrawled across the cover: "Burning Wind."

At the time, she didn't understand the significance of the gift. Years later, the CD would be worth enough to buy an entire street in the bustling city center, because it marked the official beginning of the musical era that belonged to Xi Lin!

When she asked about his dream, he said, "I want to make music that can influence the Chinese-language music scene."

Only then did she realize he wasn't a painter.

She smiled and encouraged him. "You will."

...But in truth, he was already just one step away from his dream.

*

The internet was still in its infancy back then. Xi Lin's name was only a legend within the industry. He rarely appeared in public and was the most mysterious songwriter in the business.

Then news of his disappearance made the entertainment headlines. His studio issued a missing-person notice, and rumors spread: some said he'd left because of depression, some said he'd run out of inspiration, and others said he'd been kidnapped...

Jiang Youjian grabbed a missing-person poster and raced home, breathless. She looked straight at him and asked, "Is the Xi Lin they're looking for you?"

He was silent for a long time, then suddenly smiled and shook his head regretfully. He murmured, "...Looks like Xi Lin's long vacation is over after all..."

That day, the last ray of sunset was swallowed by the horizon over the town. Glow sticks lit up the audience, and he finally stepped into the dazzling spotlight, never to appear again.

The most handsome visitor in Li Town disappeared, and the pop music scene welcomed a once-in-a-century genius singer.

That quiet little town was turned upside down by the influx of media and fans.

Later, it became a popular tourist destination, and the inn did better business than ever.

Xi Lin's early albums played all day at the hot spring inn, but no one knew the story behind them...

*

The wind died down, the snow fell, and the story ended there.

She still stood apart from the crowd. Amid the endless light and sound, she quietly closed her eyes and sang along under her breath...

[A nostalgic, healing story. Happy ending, self-indulgent comfort read, both leads' first love.]

[Coming next] Reborn Before I Was Disfigured

When Qiao Ye visited her mother, she often felt someone watching her from the room next door.

The gaze was cold and clinging, like a lurking snake slowly slithering along her spine.

At the end of the psychiatric hospital corridor stood a permanently locked iron door. A dangerous madman was kept behind it.

People said he was Lu Xianchen, the eldest son of the Lu family.

He'd once been a ruthless man who stopped at nothing, but after his father's suicide, he went mad overnight and lost his right to inherit. From then on, he sat in a wheelchair, raving and living in darkness.

The Lu family's devil had become the Lu family's madman.

How tragic!

Everyone said Lu Xianchen would kill. Qiao Ye avoided him, until she read his silent pleas for help, over and over, in his eyes.

In the end, Qiao Ye opened the door.

A cold hand shot out of the darkness and gripped her chin hard.

The man sat in a wheelchair, his face pale, but his eyes terrifyingly clear. There was nothing mad about him.

"Get me out of here, and I'll make sure you and your family want for nothing for the rest of your lives."

Qiao Ye risked her life to get a message out for him.

Satisfied, he pulled her close. His knuckles slowly traced the scar on her face, as if inspecting a personal possession someone had damaged.

Qiao Ye stood rigid, helpless and afraid.

After her disfigurement, this was the first time anyone had looked at her like this. There was no disgust, no pity.

Only a cold, obsessive scrutiny.

His emotionless, icy eyes fixed on her. In a low voice, he asked, "Qiao Ye, how did you get this scar?"

"An accident when I was eighteen..."

"An accident?" he mused elegantly, his voice thin and cold.

The next moment, he leaned toward her.

A warm, damp kiss fell on her ugly scar.

Qiao Ye shuddered.

Lu Xianchen held the back of her neck. His voice was hoarse, almost sickeningly gentle.

"They ruined you."

"It's all right."

"From now on, if anyone touches you, I'll cut off their hand."

*

One dark night, Qiao Ye saw Lu Xianchen pushed from the roof. She hurried to call for help, but someone struck her with a club, and she died.

When she woke, Qiao Ye had returned to the year she was eighteen, before she was disfigured.

That same year, Lu Xianchen, the eldest son of the Lu family, returned after completing his studies in Switzerland, ready to take over the family business.

Qiao Ye went to him. "Mr. Lu, please be careful of the people around you. Don't let yourself get into danger again."

The man in the chair was radiant and dignified, composed and self-possessed, nothing like the man in the psychiatric hospital.

Later, Qiao Ye, who had once been repeatedly pushed aside, found that everyone in the dance troupe treated her with the utmost respect. They even gave her the best roles outright.

Everyone assumed she had a powerful backer no one dared to offend.

That person was Lu Xianchen.

From the shadows, the man calmly cleared every obstacle from her path.

"Qiao Ye, this time around, you have someone to rely on."

*

Qiao Ye had once been ballet's brightest rising star.

She made her stage debut at fourteen and stunned the audience, earning praise from the media as a rare genius.

But when she was eighteen, a spotlight fell from above the awards stage. Her body was burned, her face disfigured, and she lost her chance to perform on the international stage.

Everyone said she was finished.

Only Qiao Ye knew she couldn't lose.

Her mother was the true genius, but a car accident had left her unable to walk. Qiao Ye would continue along the path her mother had been unable to finish.

In her previous life, she dragged herself forward, covered in scars, and took a full ten years too long to win the world championship in Saint Petersburg. But she died after achieving that glory.

This time, she would stop every tragedy and never let anyone trample her again.

The stage, the glory, the truth: she would take it all back.

*

Happy ending, both leads' first love, one-on-one romance, mutual salvation.

The male lead is dark, unstable, and obsessive, not a perfect character.

Both leads are reborn, and the deaths in their previous lives were part of a conspiracy.

[Weibo: Jinjiang Su Qing]

Theme: Fight against fate