· Delicate and helpless x falls for her at first sight
· 1990s | The writing and diction have a distinctly period feel
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Xin Shuixian is the only person from Wuzi Town to get into college, and she's an excellent student. Not wanting to burden her parents, she packs up and heads to the capital to work and save money.
Shuixian sweats buckets at the restaurant. Under the blazing sun, she follows the manager's orders, getting in and out of trucks to haul cargo. Her tank top is soaked through and could be wrung out.
But Shuixian thinks: Five yuan an hour, ten hours a day makes fifty yuan, and a month of work makes fifteen hundred. That'll cover a whole year's tuition and living expenses.
Even if it might not work out, Shuixian is still happy, her eyes crinkling as she calculates how much she can save by eating at the construction site.
What Shuixian doesn't realize is that, as she counts on her fingers, a big shot is watching her with interest from a second-floor window.
Why is this big shot watching a country girl haul cargo and do her sums? Because Shi Yuyan is a scoundrel who falls for women at first sight!
Shuixian has no idea just how wonderful she really is:
She's clever, and she's been admitted to a university in the capital, to one of its very best programs.
That tank top looks awful, but when she hurries by, she leaves behind a lingering trail of fragrance.
And that's not all. She sees someone covered in grime and assumes they're in trouble, so she kindly offers them a piece of bread. They mistake her kindness for a deliberate come-on...
Before long, Shuixian has saved enough money. When she tells the restaurant manager she's quitting, he hesitantly asks if she could deliver a meal to the top floor.
With a generous delivery fee in hand, Shuixian cautiously knocks on the door.
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Shi Yuyan is a notorious military rogue. Everyone keeps their distance, afraid he'll take a swing at them even as they pass by. He doesn't care. He just takes life one day at a time.
Later, when trouble leaves him penniless, it's thanks to the warmth Shuixian gives him that he can make a comeback.
He never expects Shuixian's childhood friend from back home to come looking for her. She says she wants to leave. Shi Yuyan smiles and says no, then turns around and throws the childhood friend into the water. He even makes a show of promising he won't kiss her quite so roughly next time.
From a penniless military rogue to a steel mill tycoon, Shi Yuyan would never bear to let Shuixian, the woman at his side, leave him.
Shuixian gets angry and says she wants to break up.
Shi Yuyan takes her hand and shakes his head as he recites a poem: "Shuixian, Shuixian, you've melted me completely. How could you leave me?"
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*The related story, Just a Delicate Wife, is complete.
*Compared to the heroine, the male lead is quite clearly illiterate.
*Neither lead is a perfect character.
*The male lead starts out as a rich second-generation heir, but his family gets fed up with his loafing and stops paying his expenses. Afraid the heroine will think he has nothing, he angrily gets his act together and becomes the owner of a steel mill (this may change).
*The inspiration and blurb were archived in email on 2026.8.18.
Theme: A gentle spring breeze and a happy life
