Copy dated 26.8.28, screenshot saved
Bright, sunny puppy of a younger man & cool, melancholy older woman
[Writer x Photographer | Older Woman/Younger Man | Both Pure | Bittersweet Romance]
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She has only one year left to live.
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"Do you believe me?" Mu Mian asked.
Chen Que rested her chin in her hand and smiled. "No. You look healthy, and you have a good face. You don't look like someone who's going to die young."
"You really should improve your face-reading skills."
She stood up with her coffee. "I only have a year left. I don't have time to keep this up with you. You just graduated from college. You have plenty of time to see the world and find the right person."
Chen Que was silent for a while before standing and looking at her retreating figure.
"Mu Mian, if you don't like me, you can just tell me plainly. There's no need to curse yourself like that."
Mu Mian didn't look back or reply. She walked quickly, her beautiful black hair falling over her shoulders. A brown, flower-patterned fuzzy hat went perfectly with her ankle boots. Everything about her seemed to tell the world that she was perfectly healthy and ordinary, a fashionable, beautiful young woman. How could her life possibly be counting down?
Chen Que didn't believe her.
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Mu Mian was about to turn twenty-six. She was an obscure photographer.
After graduating from an ordinary fine arts college, she had taken advertising photos for products, worked as a photography assistant, shot travel and wedding photos, and even tried being a social media influencer for a while. She'd taken any honest job that could earn her money, but every attempt had failed.
Sitting on the slightly damp bed in her rented room, she went over the utility bills and medical expenses deducted from her bank card each month.
This was her fourth month unemployed.
For four months, she'd been scraping by on small jobs she picked up online: twenty yuan to retouch a photo, fifty to edit a vlog...
She looked at the various photography contest trophies on the display shelf, then at the medical report beside her. She felt she couldn't let her life go to waste like this. Or rather, even if it was going to waste, she wanted to choose how.
Mu Mian hadn't decided where to go. She bought a discounted mystery-plane ticket, which happened to be to a city by the sea.
She packed a few things and boarded her flight.
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Mu Mian met Chen Que by the sea. He was a penniless man like her, but he loved to grin foolishly. He was two years younger.
Sometimes Mu Mian wondered if, had she not borrowed his surfboard that day and instead gone around him to find someone else, she might have avoided getting entangled with him.
This young man, who had just graduated, wasn't on a graduation trip. He was there to gather material.
"I'm a writer," Chen Que said.
"A writer?"
Mu Mian found it amusing. "You don't look like one. What kind of story are you planning to write?"
"A story woven from lies."
Her interest was piqued. "What kind of lies?"
Chen Que replied, "Everything is a lie. Love, value, freedom, life. It's all woven together, and in the end, a man named Lisen finds the true meaning of life."
"Can lies help him find the truth?"
"Lies can make him timid. Timidity can make him arrogant, and arrogance can make him think."
Chen Que stirred his coffee. "Maybe thinking will inspire him to find the truth."
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1. None of the characters or settings are based on real people or places.
2. Neither of them smokes, though they may have a little to drink. A pleasant buzz is all in good fun.
3. The male lead is pure in body and mind, and this is his first love. The female lead has an ex-boyfriend, but both are pure.
4. The female lead won't die, so don't worry as you read.
Theme: Infinite possibilities
