Reaching for the Moon

The print edition is now available.

At the class's final get-together after the college entrance exams, Tao Yan spotted the profile of a refined man at the end of the corridor.

A year had passed. The gloomy, withdrawn boy had completely transformed.

Beneath the bright lights, he wore a white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. Tall and slender, he seemed cool and distant.

Thinking of a conversation she'd had with a friend not long ago, Tao Yan gave in to a foolish impulse and took a photo of his back. The embarrassing part was that she hadn't turned off the shutter sound.

After that utterly mortifying moment, she ran into him at university and did everything she could to avoid him.

But one day, after military training had ended, they came face to face. His long, well-defined fingers offered her a wet wipe. His eyes were dark and deep, his voice low and seductive. "Wipe yourself off."

Jiang Yusui, the heartthrob of A University, is cold and unfeeling, and famously hard to pursue. Since starting school, he's broken countless girls' hearts.

Until one day, someone saw him standing outside the women's dormitory with a milk tea in hand.

The newly enrolled campus belle came out of the dorm. Jiang Yusui took her hand and leaned down close to her ear. His eyes curved into a smile, tenderness lingering at the corners of his lips.

No one knew that Jiang Yusui kept a photograph on his phone.

In it, a girl wore a blue-and-white school uniform, her bright, dark eyes gently curved. She looked so sweet she made his heart melt.

In high school, Tao Yan and Jiang Yusui belonged to two different worlds.

One was sweet and quiet, the well-behaved girl in the eyes of teachers and classmates, like the moon in the sky, beautiful and out of reach.

The other was withdrawn and fierce, his fresh wounds layered over old ones. Everyone around him kept their distance, while he struggled alone among the thorns.

The first time they met, Tao Yan handed him a bag of medicine.

After that, they never crossed paths again.

She didn't know that, through countless sleepless nights tormented by obsessive thoughts, he fell asleep listening to a recording he'd secretly made of her voice on the radio.

She didn't know that he'd worked for a year and painstakingly saved every cent just to buy her a bracelet.

One day after they got together, Tao Yan suddenly thought of the first gift he had given her. Curious, she asked why that bracelet was exactly like the one she'd lost.

He only gazed at her tenderly, kissed her forehead affectionately, and smiled. "Because I found that bracelet."

"He was lucky enough to find the crystal slipper the princess loved most, the one she'd accidentally lost and broken. He didn't want her to be sad, so he did everything he could to make it up to her."

What he didn't say was that his heart had harbored an impossible desire: he wanted to use that beloved crystal slipper to climb up to the moon hanging high in the sky and keep that ray of moonlight all to himself.

"With this pure affection, you comfort me again and again, like the radiance of a shooting star, shining upon my dreams."

The final line of the blurb is adapted from Zhu Shenghao's Waking Up, I Find I Love You So Very Much.

The story begins with the scenes in the blurb. It's mainly set at university, with no high school flashbacks.

The hero has a secret crush and carefully plots every step as he pursues her.

There's a tiny bit of game-related plot to move the romance forward, but it won't affect your reading.

A sweet slice-of-life romance with little plot, focused mainly on the relationship.

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Please add to your reading list for The Marriage Contract: You Were Serious?

Hero is reborn / nine-year age gap / steals her from someone else

Just as Xu Xitan and her boyfriend were preparing to get engaged, her family was struck by a sudden catastrophe. Their relatives and friends avoided them, and even her boyfriend's family acted as if they wanted to cut ties.

When she was desperate and had nowhere else to turn, a friend of her father's, the man she used to address respectfully as Uncle, came to find her.

Xu Xitan thought it over all night and finally gave in. Early the next morning, eyes bloodshot, she went straight to the civil affairs bureau with him.

She had thought through their marriage contract clearly: after the wedding, they would treat each other with respect, benefit one another, and go their separate ways once they'd achieved their respective goals.

She never expected that, in the days that followed, her husband in name only, a man rumored to be cold-blooded, unfeeling, and ruthless, would cherish her with such tender care.

Then she unexpectedly learned the truth about what had happened back then. After much soul-searching, she prepared divorce papers.

Later, the man, his expression dark and sinister, dropped his pretense and tore the divorce papers to shreds right in front of her.

He said, "You can divorce me only if I'm dead."

He said, "You're mine. Don't even think about leaving me again in this lifetime."

Bo Yuancheng has loved Xu Xitan for two lifetimes.

He once watched her marry someone else with his own eyes. Enduring pain that gnawed to the bone, he forced himself to let go and stay away, only to eventually receive news of her death.

Given another chance, he proceeded cautiously, planning each step. After waiting for two lifetimes and exhausting every means, he finally earned the right to hold her in his arms.

The hero has secretly loved her humbly for two lifetimes.

He's devoted to her alone, and his chastity is his finest dowry.

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Hard to Come By

Quiet, loyal, poor boy x kind-hearted, sweet girl

When Chi Zhi was fifteen, she fell seriously ill. Her parents prayed for her recovery by sponsoring a poor student from a mountainous region.

The day the student arrived at her home, he wore a faded old T-shirt and jeans that were much too short, exposing his pale, thin ankles. On his feet was a pair of worn-out sneakers.

He stood in the living room beneath the bright lights, eyes lowered and lips pressed together. Yet he stood tall and straight, like a young green bamboo.

Chi Zhi's heart softened. She felt sorry for all the hardship he'd endured as a child, and saved every tasty treat and fun thing for him. She never expected she'd end up raising a wolf.

A transfer student arrives at Licheng No. 1 High School. Quiet and withdrawn, from a poor family, he ranks first in his grade on every exam, yet seems to want nothing from life, like a learning machine.

Then one day, someone sees the usually silent, reserved boy down on one knee, head bowed, tying the campus belle's shoelace.

I once gazed up at you humbly, missing you through countless sleepless nights. Only after I stood by your side did I finally earn the right to kiss you.

Theme: Love makes people brave