[Likely writing this one next; the blurb may still get a few small tweaks! Please add it to your collection ≡ω≡]
On the eve of Ming Xuan's seventeenth birthday, Jiangwai High School held a lecture on teenage relationships during evening study hall.
Two school outreach speakers, both award-winning lecturers, spoke at length onstage. Afterwards, they handed every student a questionnaire.
It was about the lecture, but a few questions on the back seemed strange.
Do you have a first-love complex?
Are you willing to date in public?
(Optional) What is your ideal type as a teenager?
...And so on.
Why not be brave for once?
Her gaze moved to the next yes-or-no question.
Ming Xuan propped her chin on her hand and glanced at her crush, who was resting with his head on his desk. Then she lowered her head and carefully wrote Yu Jing's name beside the question, "Is there someone you currently have feelings for?"
The questionnaires were collected amid a rustle of paper. Her deskmate, Song Xingzhou, walked out with a stern face, clearly angry.
And that was the end of it. No one ever thought about this little incident again.
*
Ming Xuan went to college and started working. The company she co-founded had just gotten off the ground, and she had also dated a few people she knew, more or less, before one afternoon, when an invitation landed in her inbox.
The production team of "The Heart-Fluttering Questionnaire" wrote with earnest sincerity and promised a generous fee.
Ming Xuan thought of the company's startup funds, gritted her teeth, and agreed.
They described it as an ordinary dating show, hiding the fact that nearly all the participants came from two high schools where they had filled out questionnaires. The producers had selected the schools' most talked-about students. Over the past eight years, some had become deeply entangled with one another, and Ming Xuan was at the center of the storm.
Every male contestant had a tangled history with her.
*
After Yu Jing and Ming Xuan chose each other for their first date, Qi Shu dragged her into a secluded spot in the lodge, out of camera range.
His eyes darkened. Jealousy had smoldered in them all day, and his voice held a faintly mocking edge. "Happy now?"
"At graduation, in the hotel..." He paused, unable to say the word.
"You called his name, too."
His hand moved to Ming Xuan's waist and gave it a firm pinch. His gaze roamed over her collarbone before he bent down to kiss and bite her.
His voice had gone completely hoarse. "Don't make a sound."
"Yu Jing is outside."
Three knocks at the door.
A voice without a hint of emotion: "Ming Xuan, the production team wants to interview you."
Notes:
1. The romantic rivalry will remain intense. Long live the all-around heartthrob!
2. There will be live comment and forum-style sections, which will be marked in the chapters.
3. Male leads 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all involved with the female lead.
Theme: Love yourself before you can love others.
