Keywords

(I’ll start posting once this reaches 300 collections. Let’s all give it a push!)

[A beautiful woman with a nasty personality deserves a dog who’s loyal to the very end!]

Wen Tang and Qi Zhou’s relationship is simple enough.

They’ve known each other since birth, and their families live right across the hall from each other.

His parents divorced when he was young. Wen Tang’s mother felt sorry for him, so whenever she made something delicious, she’d send Wen Tang over with a bowl.

Wen Tang would bring it over. He’d open the door, take it with a blank expression, and say thank you with the same blank expression.

At the time, Wen Tang wondered if his parents’ divorce had left him with a permanently frozen face.

Later, she realized he wasn’t expressionless. He just couldn’t be bothered to show anyone else how he felt.

Her?

He was expressionless with her, too.

But he was willing to do anything she didn’t want to do for herself: tie her shoelaces, carry her backpack, help her with homework...

Every now and then, Wen Tang would have a rare pang of conscience and ask him, "Am I kind of picking on you?"

Qi Zhou would look up at her. "I’m used to it."

Used to it.

That word summed up Wen Tang and Qi Zhou’s relationship perfectly.

Wen Tang was used to having him around, used to his kindness, used to him always being there, ready whenever she called.

In high school, someone asked, "Wen Tang, Qi Zhou does whatever you say. Does he like you?"

Wen Tang answered without a second thought. "How could he? We’re practically brother and sister."

Wen Tang genuinely didn’t think it was possible.

How could you fall for someone you’d known since birth?

She couldn’t imagine their relationship becoming anything other than childhood friends.

Until one day, a girl appeared by Qi Zhou’s side. She was pretty, did well in school, and seemed to be able to talk to him about anything under the sun.

A friend said, "If Qi Zhou starts dating, you two won’t be able to keep things the way they are now, will you?"

Wen Tang paused. "Why not?"

"Obviously, if he has a girlfriend, he can’t spend all his time hanging around you."

That night, Wen Tang couldn’t sleep.

She still didn’t think she liked him.

She just... didn’t want to give him to someone else.

Her friend watched the drama unfold. "Doesn’t matter how much you don’t want to. We’re all growing up. He’s a handsome guy, so if he doesn’t date someone today, he will tomorrow. If not this girl, then the next."

Wen Tang didn’t know what else to do, so she decided: strike first and date him herself.

There wasn’t much skill involved in seducing Qi Zhou.

He was highly intelligent, but when it came to this sort of thing, he was no match for her at all.

Sure enough, before long, they really were together.

After they started dating, it took Wen Tang a long time to get used to being physically intimate with him.

They’d been childhood friends for almost twenty years, practically family. Even seducing him had felt like a sin.

But once she forced herself to take the first step, she realized she didn’t dislike it.

To her surprise, Wen Tang really liked his body.

Wen Tang wasn’t one to hold back, and around Qi Zhou, she didn’t even know what holding back meant.

Qi Zhou went along with everything. In bed and out of it, he did whatever she asked, and from his reactions, he seemed to enjoy it, too.

But he never touched Wen Tang first.

Before Wen Tang’s hand touched him, his hand never came to rest on her.

Having the upper hand felt nice, but after a while, Wen Tang got tired of always being the only one to make a move.

One day, she couldn’t hold back any longer. "Do you like me? Or did I force you into this relationship, and you’re just bad at saying no?"

Qi Zhou’s life had never had much in it.

The year his parents divorced, he was too young to understand. He only noticed that one person had disappeared from the house, and before long, the other one rarely came home either.

The house was huge, but there was hardly anyone in it. It was so quiet, it felt as if time had stopped.

One winter, he came down with a fever and thought he could tough it out.

Through the window, Wen Tang saw that something was wrong. She ran over and knocked on his door, then got her parents to take him to the hospital.

While he was on an IV, she fell asleep beside him, still holding the tube, thinking in her childish way that she could warm him up.

From then on, Wen Tang became the one and only anchor in his life.

He was willing to do anything she didn’t want to do for herself: tie her shoelaces, carry her backpack, help her with homework...

Every now and then, she’d have a rare pang of conscience. "Am I kind of picking on you?"

He’d say, "I’m used to it."

Used to it.

For Wen Tang, it meant he would always be there.

For Qi Zhou, it meant he only wanted to be there for her.

She didn’t know he’d given up his guaranteed university admission in high school because she’d casually said it was a shame they wouldn’t graduate together.

She didn’t know that when she thought she was seducing him, he’d been doing everything he could to play along, because he wanted so badly for her to succeed.

He’d loved her far longer than he’d ever realized.

He’d fantasized about her far more than he dared admit.

One day, when he finally understood, he realized that every defining word in his life pointed to the same person.

Family was her. Friendship was her. Love was her, too.

There was no second place.

No substitute.

No next page.

She wasn’t one of the options in his life.

She was the whole answer, the only thing that mattered.

[Reading Guide]

1. A sexy, awkward bookworm x a pretty, lively little troublemaker.

2. Childhood friends, each other’s first love, both sexually inexperienced, happy ending.

3. The male lead giving up his guaranteed university admission for love is extremely irrational. Please don’t imitate this in real life! But in this story, he is an extreme "devoted-only-to-the-heroine" type, and this choice is meant to reinforce his characterization. With his abilities, he’d be at the top no matter which path he took.

My next novel will be She and He. Feel free to visit my author page and add it to your collection:

That summer, Li Yingchu moved into the Lin family’s mansion with her mother.

Everyone said they were mistletoe clinging to a high branch, including her nominal older brother, Lin Yunshuo.

He almost never looked her in the eye, and whenever he spoke to her, his words were laced with sarcasm.

She tried hard to be friendly, but all she got in return was, "Don’t bother. Whatever tricks you and your mother have, they won’t work on me."

Until one night, she took a furious slap from his father meant for him.

When her cheek was swollen and red, he gripped her chin. "Why did you take that for me?"

She turned her face away. "I just wanted us to get along."

He moved closer with a cold laugh. "And how exactly are you planning to 'get along'? The way your mother seduced my father?"

Alcohol, a summer night, and the desire to win.

She tugged down the strap of her nightgown. "Like this?"

[Reading Guide]

1. Pretend step-siblings, no blood relation, not on the same household register, both sexually inexperienced, happy ending.

2. A sweet, gentle, clever girl x a young master who says one thing and means another. Cold wars by day, hot wars by night.

(Blurb: 2026.01.03)

Theme: She isn’t one of life’s options. She’s the whole answer, the only thing that matters.