The Guide to Getting Caught Using Fake Photos in the Eighties

This novel has 50% advance protection, with a 6-hour delay.

[A fiercely survival-minded cultural relic restorer VS a hard-mouthed, soft-hearted, deeply devoted officer]

Blurb

Fang Zhiran stayed up all night finishing a period novel and was so furious she threw her phone. The villainess shared her name, used her roommate's photo as a fake profile picture, and strung along seven or eight pen pals to scam them out of money. The first target was the hero, Gu Zheng, a battle-hardened soldier who had risen from poverty to become a regiment commander.

“Is this woman crazy? She's pretty and educated. Why not do something worthwhile instead of acting like a player?”

She woke up in the body of that villainess.

Looking at the letter she'd just finished writing, then counting the remittance slips Gu Zheng had sent in her desk drawer, Fang Zhiran's vision went black. The original host had written him three letters a week and made the regiment commander fall for her. Now he wanted to meet.

“Stay calm, earn money, pay him back, then break up.” Fang Zhiran gritted her teeth and set her plan.

Gu Zheng, however, couldn't wait. After finishing a mission, he secretly spent three days on a train, hoping to see the place where his sweetheart studied. Outside the state-run restaurant, he came across Fang Zhiran being harassed by a man and stepped in without a second thought.

Fang Zhiran was just about to look up and thank him when she saw the face that matched the photo exactly. She nearly died of fright on the spot.

Gu Zheng hadn't told the original host he was coming. He quietly returned to his unit, and Fang Zhiran nervously tested the waters: “Are you done with your mission? Where are you now?”

One probing letter brought her a stack of cash, a pile of fabric coupons, and a transfer order.

The day Gu Zheng transferred to a post near her school, Fang Zhiran thought her time was up.

He held the photo of her roommate, anger and the last shreds of his self-control in his eyes. “Fang Zhiran, don't you want money? Marry me. You'll never be short of money.”

“C-can't I just pay you back? In installments!”

After that, Gu Zheng received five or ten yuan in repayments every day. He was so angry he started laughing, until he realized the girl was really working herself to the bone to pay him back.

For the final month's repayment, Fang Zhiran placed an envelope on the table. Inside was the last 120 yuan.

Fang Zhiran took a deep breath. “Eight hundred yuan in total. It's all paid back.”

Gu Zheng looked at the envelope without touching it.

Fang Zhiran: “Do you... want to count it?”

Gu Zheng: “No need.”

Fang Zhiran breathed a sigh of relief. “Then I'm leaving.”

But Gu Zheng suddenly spoke. “Fang Zhiran, you've paid off your money debt. What about your feelings? How will you repay those?”

Bonus Scene 1

At the door of the cultural relic restoration studio, Fang Zhiran had just stepped over the threshold when she ran straight into a wall of military green.

Fang Zhiran quickly stepped back twice. “...Why are you here again?”

Gu Zheng: “Just passing by.”

Fang Zhiran: “Your unit is to the west, and my school is to the north. What route could possibly bring you past here?”

Gu Zheng remained completely unruffled. “A detour.”

Fang Zhiran was speechless. “How far did you detour?”

Gu Zheng: “A dozen or so kilometers.”

He finished speaking and walked on. A few steps later, he looked back and saw her still frozen in place.

Gu Zheng: “Not coming? Then I'll make another loop and come back for you.”

Bonus Scene 2

At the sewing machine, Fang Zhiran was wrestling with a pair of trousers with a split seam. Her stitches were crooked, and she'd pricked her finger three times.

A hand reached around from behind and took the trousers from her.

Gu Zheng sat down where she had been sitting. “Watch carefully.”

His foot worked the pedal, and his hands moved deftly. The stitches were so close together they looked machine-made.

Fang Zhiran gaped. “You're an officer... and you know how to use a sewing machine?”

Gu Zheng didn't look up. “I can darn socks, cook, and fix houses too. What can't a poor kid do?”

He bit off the thread and shook out the trousers.

Gu Zheng: “Anything else need mending?”

Fang Zhiran said quietly, “...N-no.”

There was one more thing, actually, but it was underwear.

She'd die before she brought it out.

Also updating: Lychee in the Rain

[Sunshine Girl from the comics department VS physics grad student]

[Fiery food-streaming darling VS an outwardly aloof, secretly flirtatious picky eater]

At eleven one night, Cheng Shu clicked into the local livestream, as usual.

On the screen, a girl with her hair in a bun grinned at a pot of bubbling tomato-braised beef brisket. Steam fogged up the whole frame.

“You have to blanch the brisket for exactly three minutes. One second longer and it'll get tough; one second less and it'll taste too gamey... Oh, welcome, ‘User847263’! It's so late. Haven't you eaten yet?”

Cheng Shu's fingers paused.

Then, expressionless, he opened a food delivery app, searched for “Chef Yu's Home Cooking,” and ordered the tomato-braised brisket set.

When the delivery arrived, there was a handwritten note on the insulated bag: “Hey, pretty lady or handsome guy, you've ordered from us for twenty-eight days in a row! Here's a little VIP gift, a tiger cub I drew myself. Hope you have a happy day, and a happy every day!”

Cheng Shu looked at the crooked tiger, which resembled a potato that had turned into a monster, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Not long after, a friend dragged Cheng Shu to a club social. The first person he saw when he walked in was a girl in the corner, with long hair and almond-shaped eyes that curved into crescents when she smiled. She held up her phone, excitedly sending a voice message to a friend: “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I met the real person! He's a million times more handsome than in the photos! With a face that stunning, it'd be such a waste not to draw fan comics!”

Cheng Shu stopped, then turned and walked away as if he'd made up his mind about something.

One day, he came across a thick stack of hand-drawn comics. The cover read Cheng Shu Observation Diary 2.0.

He opened it to the first page:

“Observation of the day: He drinks soy milk without sugar. Does he think life is already bitter enough? No, absolutely not!”

Next to it was a drawing of a rabbit chasing an expressionless cat and force-feeding it a spoonful of sugar.

Later, Cheng Shu became a regular at Yu Li's family restaurant, sitting in the window seat in the corner every day, right on time.

As Auntie Yu served him steamed sea bass, she leaned in and whispered, “Xiao Cheng, Xiao Li is drawing you again today. She's already on her third book. Are you going to do something about it?”

Cheng Shu leisurely picked up a piece of fish. “Auntie, I've already preordered the third one.”

Some time later, Yu Li was livestreaming as usual one evening while making tiramisu. Cheng Shu sat quietly beside her, reading academic papers.

While beating the egg whites, Yu Li chatted away. “Everyone, the secret to tiramisu is making sure the coffee fully soaks into the ladyfingers, just like...”

“Just like my feelings for you have to soak in slowly.”

Cheng Shu's voice drifted in from off-screen.

Yu Li's hand shook. The beater nearly flew out of her grip. She turned her stiff neck and saw Cheng Shu still bent over his paper, apparently absorbed in it, as if what she'd just heard had been a hallucination.

The chat exploded:

“Wait, did someone just confess?!”

“Was that deep, magnetic voice just my imagination?!”

“Streamer, don't pretend! You're blushing all the way down your neck!!”

“Three-month viewer here, screaming! Aaaah, my brother-in-law finally knows how to use his words!!”

“I'm dying, he's still pretending to read his paper, and he's holding it upside down!!!”

“Oh my gosh, how is this livestream sweeter than a romance drama?!”

“Cheng Shu,” Yu Li bit her lip, her voice trembling, “I didn't turn off the livestream...”

Cheng Shu finally looked up. His eyes curved slightly behind his glasses, like the first snow melting. “I know.”

He suddenly closed the paper and rested his chin on one hand, looking over at her with an especially innocent expression. “What, you've been flirting with me for three months and drawn three little comics, and now you don't plan to take responsibility?”

“Oh my gosh, he called her big sister!!!!”

“Aaaah, he's so sly and I love it!!!”

“Chef Yu, stand your ground! Don't let this green tea cat get the better of you!!”

“I'm dying. Isn't the streamer usually so talkative? Why can't she get a single word out now?”

The chat went completely wild.

Sweet Bonus Scene 1

Yu Li noticed that whenever Cheng Shu ate at the restaurant, he wore headphones and watched something on his tablet.

She tiptoed around behind him. On the screen was a recording of her livestream.

A chat message floated past: The streamer is so cute, I want to marry her.

Cheng Shu expressionlessly pressed and held the screen, then tapped “Report.”

Reason: Spreading inappropriate content.

Sweet Bonus Scene 2

Someone made a snide comment about Yu Li's livestream, saying she was “just getting by on her looks.”

Cheng Shu, who was usually silent, suddenly spoke up. “Her cooking won a provincial competition gold medal, her video editing won a university student creativity award, and her comics were shortlisted for the Golden Dragon Award. And you...”

He looked the person up and down, expressionless. “Your resume probably has just one thing worth mentioning: ‘knows how to type on the internet.’”

Yu Li stared at him, stunned.

Later, she wrote in her little notebook: Cheng Shu stays quiet because he's saving up his big moves.

Sweet Bonus Scene 3

Back when Yu Li was pursuing him, she waited for him outside the physics building every day.

Cheng Shu's friend asked him, “That girl is waiting for you again. What are you going to do about her?”

Cheng Shu organized his experimental data without looking up. “I'm waiting for her to give up.”

“What if she doesn't?”

His pen paused. He said softly, “Then don't blame me if I don't let her go.”

Theme: Be honest and trustworthy, self-reliant and strong.