Wild Star Lantern

[Complete] Next up: Wet Fireworks. Please add it to your favorites! Blurb below! After failing the college entrance exam, Gu Jianian goes to spend the summer at her maternal grandmother's home in the countryside. By chance, she wanders into a villa covered in ivy. A strange man lives there, someone the villagers say never leaves the house and cannot stand the light. The children even whisper behind his back that he's a vampire. As her vacation draws to a close, she does two things: talks to her parents about retaking the exam, and confesses her feelings to him. One succeeds. The other fails. * Two years later, Gu Jianian is studying late into the night in the Chinese department at the prestigious Zhou University. For a literature appreciation class, the professor assigns a reading list of which nearly half the books are by a rising new author who has won major literary awards with a novel and a series of novellas. At two in the morning, Gu Jianian sits in the library and opens the preface to his novel. It reads: "The opening was difficult. I stopped writing more than ten times, each time because the hardships of reality wore away at my romantic dreams. Then one day, she knocked on my door, pushed aside the dogwood branches cluttering the entrance, and handed me a box of pastries. From then on, light poured in." A few things to know before you start: 1. The male lead falls for the female lead after she comes of age. 2. They get together after the female lead retakes the college entrance exam. 3. Six-year age gap. Both are each other's first. * From Chi Yan's perspective. He has just deleted the twelfth draft of his opening when some clueless person suddenly knocks on his door. Scowling, he opens it to find a timid high school girl with big eyes and fair skin, holding a box of cookies. Out of consideration for the favor he owes her elders, he reluctantly ends his life of staying cooped up at home and takes care of this girl, crushed by the pressure of the college entrance exam. He lets her study at his place. Gives her a key. Takes her to the doctor. Goes shopping with her. Comforts her, encourages her, praises her... The girl is polite and knows her boundaries, but she never calls him "big brother." At last, her summer vacation ends and she leaves to retake the exam. Then the girl awkwardly confesses her feelings to him. "..." Chi Yan glances at her. "Let's talk after you've taken the exam." * After the college entrance exam the following year, Chi Yan calculates when the results will be released and sends her a message on WeChat. "How did you do?" After a long while, she replies, "I did really well." Then another message comes in: "Thank you, Big Brother Chi Yan." Chi Yan. Big brother. "..." Damn it. The older you get, the easier it is to get fooled. Updates every night at eight. Come on in! Weibo: @Jinjiang Zhong Jin Next up: Wet Fireworks In her second year of college, Shu Nian is dumped in Chicago like a piece of trash. As she comes out of the airport with her luggage, an Asian man stops her, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "Thirty bucks a night. You won't find anywhere cheaper." So much for the land of the free. Anything goes, every day. Shu Nian can't help looking him over. With looks and a figure like his, the price isn't bad, but... She bites her lip and looks down. "I'm afraid you might have a disease." The man's brows draw together. The tip of his cigarette glows red. After a long moment, he suddenly laughs. "What are you thinking? I mean a place to stay!" "Thirty a night, six hundred a month, utilities, internet, and heating included. Interested?" * Happy ending / five-year age gap Theme: Love and ideals