The Thirteenth Month

The novel has been signed for print publication. Follow my Weibo for updates on the publication process.

The next book in the series, The Seventh Summer (original title: More Than Just Liking You), is available to add to your collection in my profile.

Blurb:

Zhou Xiansi liked Xu Zong for all of high school.

To Zhou Xiansi, her secret crush was her own business and had nothing to do with him.

So when high school ended, the secret crush in her diary came to an end, too.

"I kept praying for a miracle in the thirteenth month, but the thirteenth month never seemed to come, and I kept on liking you."

No one knew that what Zhou Xiansi deleted in that moment was her entire youth.

Six months later, they met again at a class reunion. The boy was still the adored, brilliant star of the class, with refined features and a graceful bearing.

The moment their eyes met, Zhou Xiansi looked away first.

After a few rounds of drinks, someone got curious and asked, "Xu Zong, you said you wouldn't date in high school because you wanted to focus on studying. Now that you're in college, have you made time for a relationship?"

Xu Zong leaned back in his seat. Whatever crossed his mind, a few seconds later he raised his chin. "How could I make time for it? She's right here."

The dinner table erupted. "Who? Xu Zong, who's your girlfriend? That's huge! Is she in our class?"

Glancing at someone sitting quietly with her head down, Xu Zong shook his head with a faint smile. "But my girlfriend's giving me the cold shoulder. She hasn't spoken to me in six months."

Then he stood up and walked straight over. Crouching beside Zhou Xiansi's seat, he spoke in a low, hoarse voice as everyone at the table stared in astonishment. "Zhou Xiansi, you've had me deleted for six months. Are you over it yet? Can you talk to me now?"

"..."

Zhou Xiansi had always thought she was the only one involved in this secret crush that never saw the light of day. Then, one afternoon long afterward, she heard the final words among the well-wishes he'd secretly hidden for two years:

"Zhou Xiansi, when are you finally going to realize that I like you?"

[Happy ending / Mutual secret crush / Both virgins]

Reading guide:

1. I can check the subscription rates for every chapter. Don't read pirated copies and then comment in the official section.

2. Everyone's reading experience is different, and I can't write something every single person will like. If it's not for you, feel free to skip it. There's no need to announce it in the comments. I hope we can understand one another.

3. Enjoy the story, and no needless drama.

The next book in the series, The Seventh Summer (original title: More Than Just Liking You), is available to add to your collection in my profile:

When Lin Yang was sixteen, her mother remarried. She had to live under someone else's roof and gained a brother with no blood relation to her.

To put it nicely, he was her stepbrother.

One day, Lin Yang's parents were called in over her "dating too young."

In the brightly lit office, the homeroom teacher glanced at the family information on their forms and asked in surprise, "You two are siblings?"

Shen Wang's eyes were dark as he gave her a long look and said mockingly, "Teacher, do I look like her brother?"

Silence for two seconds.

Lin Yang kept a straight face. "Dad."

Shen Wang: "..."

That was how their feud began.

Shen Wang liked smoking. Lin Yang hated the smell.

She tried to persuade him to mend his ways: "Studies show that burning cigarettes release 38 kinds of toxic chemicals. Smokers account for more than 80 percent of lung cancer patients each year, and heavy smokers have a lung cancer rate as high as 30 percent."

Shen Wang curled his lip and expertly flicked ash with his clean fingers. His voice was languid. "Didn't that tell you that at most 10 percent of the harmful substances enter the respiratory tract? The rest stays in the air."

Lin Yang silently glanced at the white smoke filling the air and smiled. "So you do know that secondhand smoke is more harmful than firsthand smoke, big brother."

Shen Wang looked at her, cigarette between his lips, his brows and eyes full of defiance. "If you know it's more harmful, why are you coming over here?"

A double entendre.

"..."

After graduating high school, Lin Yang's mother and Shen Wang's father fell out of love and ended their marriage amicably.

His friends teased the usually arrogant and carefree Young Master Shen for giving up his beloved cigarettes for a stepsister, only for her to leave without a second thought.

Shen Wang listened, rolling an unlit cigarette between his fingers. His eyes narrowed as he thought it over. "That's not so bad."

Years later, while on a business trip, Shen Wang received an invitation from a college friend: It was my little sister's birthday. Let's get together if you're free.

Whatever crossed Shen Wang's mind, he lowered his eyes and smiled. "You're pretty invested in your stepsister."

His friend raised an eyebrow. "If you had a stepsister as sensible as mine, you'd be invested too."

Shen Wang narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

The next day, Shen Wang accepted the invitation.

When the door opened, he saw a radiant, beautiful young woman in the center of the sofa in the dim private room. A man's jacket was draped over her shoulders, and a woman's cigarette rested between her rosy lips. She tilted her head toward the man in front of her and held out her hand. "Second Brother, where's your lighter? Light this for me."

Shen Wang's brow twitched. He strode over, snatched the cigarette from her mouth, and put it in his own.

He shot a sidelong glance at his friend, who had been about to hand her the lighter. His low voice carried a hint of anger. "I haven't let her breathe secondhand smoke in all these years, and you're willing to let her?"

Theme: May every beautiful thing arrive right on time.