Words of Radiance

[A free-spirited, rebellious, avoidant stunt double and aspiring actress × a refined, abstinent, jealous heir to a wealthy family]

After losing her memory, Xu Zhaoli forgot only one thing: that she was pretending to love Yan Rang.

Two months ago, when she first met Yan Rang,

a dating contract she couldn't refuse was placed in front of Xu Zhaoli.

Its terms were clear and cold: she would play the devoted lover, and he would claim his family fortune.

She played her part with a clear head, but gradually let her guard down amid his genuine and feigned tenderness.

After an accident left her with amnesia, Xu Zhaoli remembered everything except the contract and the lover behind her mask.

Now the whole world was witnessing their perfect romance.

He treated her with even more care than before, flawless in every way.

Only Xu Zhaoli was confused. There were moments when Yan Rang looked at her with a sorrow she couldn't understand.

Until that winter night.

Yan Rang stood alone downstairs for half the night, snow piling up on his shoulders.

The bitter wind blew and the streetlights flickered. His voice trembled as he asked, "Zhaoli, how much of your love for me is real?"

Xu Zhaoli calmly opened her umbrella, her expression cool. She gently brushed the snow from his shoulders and spoke as if reciting someone else's lines: "Mr. Yan, our contract expired a long time ago."

The first time Yan Rang met Xu Zhaoli was in a remote mountain forest.

Under the falling night, he had slipped away from his engagement banquet and come upon Xu Zhaoli, who had snuck out after filming to look at the moon.

The wind was strong in the mountains, and it blew her hair ribbon into a tree.

Xu Zhaoli was light on her feet. With a few quick moves, she climbed onto a branch and sat in the tree, smiling brightly at him.

"Can you climb trees?"

"No."

"Then I'll teach you."

The scarlet ribbon in her hand was carried by the wind into Yan Rang's heart.

At that moment, it seemed that tonight's escape had finally found its reason.

His engagement banquet didn't need to be held at some grand, luxurious villa in the distant suburbs. This quiet, deserted forest would do, with just the two of them.

They met every night. She liked sitting in the moonlight, and Yan Rang stood half a step behind her, where she could see him whenever she turned around.

She liked chestnuts, and the hills behind his home were full of chestnut trees.

They promised to come back and see them together.

But after they returned, Yan Rang spent every day in despair.

On their last night in the mountains, torrential rain had poured down. Despite being urged not to go, Yan Rang had taken an umbrella and gone to meet her, but she never came.

He thought he could ask her what had happened the next time they met, never expecting to be met with Xu Zhaoli's bewildered, unfamiliar gaze.

She had forgotten him.

A single contract bound her, and bound him too.

He'd hoped the contract would keep her by his side, but Xu Zhaoli had never once smiled at him the way she had that night.

"Mr. Yan, I think that once our three-month contract expires, we shouldn't see each other again." The cool distance in Xu Zhaoli's voice always pierced him so easily.

No matter how well he treated her, the words "contract" and "agreement" always pushed her farther away.

"Zhaoli..." Yan Rang wanted to ask her to stay, but couldn't bring himself to say it.

Would you still come see the chestnut trees at my home? I've planted them all.

Luckily, fate gave them another chance. When she lost her memory again, they were finally able to start over.

No broken promises, and no contract.

There was just one thing that continued to infuriate Yan Rang.

Why did Xu Zhaoli's memory loss always make her forget only him?

Reading guide:

A sweet romance wrapped in bittersweet angst

He lowers his head for love

One-on-one, happy ending

Theme: Sincerity matters most