Inferior Humans

When Jiang Keyi was sixteen, she met Zhang Yuxian.

At the time, Zhang Yuxian was an independent curator, thirty-six years old, mature and perceptive. She often sat by the window in a cafe reading, sunlight falling across her as the delicate necklace around her neck sparkled.

To Jiang Keyi, she was a woman of irresistible charm, like a vast ocean, like the autumn wind, like a book she couldn't understand but wanted to read for the rest of her life.

Jiang Keyi was head over heels for her.

When she was eighteen, Jiang Keyi won Zhang Yuxian's heart.

Over the next five years, Zhang Yuxian helped transform the girl who had once been so insecure she wouldn't even lift her head while walking into a confident adult whose eyes shone with light.

One day, when Jiang Keyi was twenty-three, Zhang Yuxian crouched in the bathroom washing her socks.

Looking at the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and her no-longer-young face, Jiang Keyi suddenly realized that she no longer saw a vast ocean. She saw an ordinary middle-aged woman.

She couldn't help thinking of her manager at work, that stylish woman who had shown an interest in her.

Right, the manager was thirty-six.

Zhang Yuxian noticed the change in Jiang Keyi. One night, she held Jiang Keyi close, tears running down her neck, and cried, "Do you think I'm too old?"

Later, they broke up.

When Jiang Keyi ran into Zhang Yuxian again, she was wearing exquisite makeup and an outfit Jiang Keyi had never seen before. Her hair fell loose, and she was beautiful and captivating.

Jiang Keyi called out to her.

She turned around and looked at her once.

There was no hatred or pain in her eyes, nothing at all. She looked at Jiang Keyi as if she were a stranger, like a work of art she had already taken down from an exhibition.

Zhang Yuxian nodded and walked away.

She would never know what she had truly lost.

She had lost a woman of irresistible charm who could have loved only herself, but had willingly bent down to love her amid the everyday chores of life. She had lost the most precious ocean of her life.

[I know you are foolish, frivolous, and empty-headed, yet I love you.

I know your ambitions and ideals, that you are snobbish and vulgar, yet I love you.

I know you are second-rate, yet I love you.]

The Painted Veil

Content warnings:

1. The two are together at the end of the book.

2. Twenty-year age gap, not both virgins.

3. For the younger partner's character type, look at the title.

4. The characters' values do not represent the author's. I don't accept unsolicited writing advice, but feel free to share your opinions about the plot, characters, or anything else, as long as they're not too extreme.

5. This has absolutely nothing to do with that story online, and the plots are completely unrelated. Please don't derail the discussion, thanks.

Theme: Keep living with determination and believe in yourself