She Is the Third Kind of Beauty

[Volume One has been published and is available on all platforms. The radio drama of the same name is on Fan Jiao. For the latest bonus stories, see the author’s profile, “Bonus Stories.” The bonus content is the same as the stories in the author’s “Bonus Stories” collection, so there’s no need to read them twice.]

[Blurb 1]

“Sometimes to cure, often to help, always to comfort.”

This saying is the truest description of oncology.

In oncology, a doctor’s sense of accomplishment doesn’t come from curing the sick and saving lives. It comes from extending the lives of every cancer patient and easing the suffering of each one.

“The halls of modern medicine are built upon countless bones. We are all but ants, and everything we contribute in a lifetime is just a drop in the ocean.”

[Blurb 2]

When the new snow has just stopped and the full moon hangs in the sky,

The ground below is spread with pale shadows,

While silvery light flows overhead.

And you walk toward me with a smile.

Between the moonlight and the snow,

You are the third kind of beauty.

Yu Guangzhong, “Peerless Beauty”

Coming next: preorder for Dream of You a Little Longer

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[Blurb 1]

Throughout their three years of high school, Lan Ze and Lin Wangshu were inseparable friends, one gloomy and reserved, the other radiant.

On nights they shared a bed, they exchanged countless secrets.

But Lan Ze had one secret she never confessed: she was in love with Lin Wangshu.

She stayed by her side as a close friend for three years, secretly in love with her for three years.

After the college entrance exams, Lan Ze resolved to confess her last secret.

But Lin Wangshu blurted out first, “You’re my very best friend. When I get married someday, you have to be my maid of honor.”

Lan Ze fell silent for a few seconds, then smiled and agreed. She gave up on confessing and cut off contact with her.

[Blurb 2]

After ten years without contact, Lan Ze’s heart is calm, yet she dreams of Lin Wangshu at least once a month. Sometimes they’re holding hands on a stroll, sometimes kissing and embracing, and sometimes making love.

At times she sinks into the dreams, reluctant to wake. At others, she suffers so much that she begs the heavens to stop tormenting her. She really doesn’t want to dream about that girl anymore.

Countless times, just after waking from a dream, she picks up her phone and opens the familiar profile, but never reaches out.

When love goes unreturned, not disturbing the other person is the last kindness you can offer.

[Blurb 3]

Ten years later, they meet again. Lin Wangshu has lost her memory after a car accident. She finds Lan Ze and says, “Dr. Lan, I’m your girlfriend of ten years.”

Lan Ze sneers. “Right. You must have hit your head.”

She really has hit her head.

Not only does she claim to be Lan Ze’s girlfriend, she moves into her little apartment and acts the part, gets jealous when someone confesses to Lan Ze, and insists that Lan Ze report her whereabouts. When Lan Ze says they’re just friends, she says nothing, quietly reddens around the eyes, leaves home, and hides in a corner of the park, crying her eyes out.

Lan Ze doesn’t want to argue with a patient whose mind is addled. She plans to go their separate ways again once Lin Wangshu recovers her memories.

People who love too deeply can’t be friends.

Then one day, Lan Ze finds a love letter, written to her by Lin Wangshu when she was eighteen.

“I dream about you every month. In my dreams, we’re a couple, and we do everything couples do. I want to dream of you a little longer.”

[A story of mutual secret love and finding one another.]

Theme: 1. Sometimes to cure, often to help, always to comfort. 2. Face adversity with courage, save others, and save yourself.