Walking on Spring Ice

Yun Xie always told her, "Don't fall for Song Xingji. It's foolish."

Ye Jiyao didn't understand.

She had loved Song Xingji for eight years, watching him change girlfriends time and time again. Then, when she was twenty-three, he slipped a ring onto her finger.

Song Xingji said he was tired of all the drama. He didn't want to keep going through the motions. He wanted to marry her.

She was a model fiancée. She ate with him, met his parents, and even went to see his sworn enemy, Song Xingji's half-brother, Yun Xie.

A week before the wedding, she sent Yun Xie a wedding invitation.

The man seemed to have just woken up. He carried a faint scent of alcohol and tobacco, and lazily glanced at the words "Sister-in-law: Ye Jiyao" on the cover. Then, unhurriedly, he said,

"Happy wedding."

She had thought married life would be happy, but the day before the wedding, she found something suspicious on Song Xingji's phone.

Jiang Xi, the high school beauty, his first love.

Song Xingji frowned and gently tried to explain.

Only then did Jiyao suddenly realize that all his girlfriends had looked like Jiang Xi.

*

Only after Ye Jiyao left did Song Xingji regret it.

She cut off all contact with him, leaving behind only a signed divorce agreement. He clutched the pages tightly, feeling as if a piece of his heart had suddenly gone missing.

Later, he searched every street and alley connected to her. At last, he knocked on Yun Xie's door and saw a girl in a pure white wedding dress. He froze on the spot.

Yun Xie came out of the room and said coolly,

"Song Xingji, this is your sister-in-law."

Yun Xie always told himself, "Don't fall for Ye Jiyao. It's foolish."

Ye Jiyao, too, had thought that secretly loving someone was like walking on thin ice.

Until someone broke through that ice and told her, with all the fervor in his heart, that loving someone could be as tumultuous as the ebb and flow of the tide.

Beneath the ice, love surged and spilled over. The wind loved, and even the sea was gentle.

[Reading Guide]

* The heroine ends up with Yun Xie. Happy ending, single-couple pairing.

* A small clarification: the heroine and Song Xingji registered their marriage but never held a wedding. She dumped him right after they registered.

* Author's Weibo: @Yunzhi

* Cover character design used with permission from @Muhange-FanmengJimifan

* You've made it this far, so why not add it to your favorites before you go?

Coming soon: "The Moon's Beauty Mark"

When she saw Lin Wei again, she was giving a speech as an honor student in the auditorium of No. 1 High School.

She was the school's celebrated genius, a national grand prize winner in the math competition who had skipped grades and earned admission to the prestigious A University.

After her speech, she walked out of the auditorium and spotted Lin Wei standing on punishment duty by the entrance.

His school uniform was neat, but his zipper was undone. Hands in his pockets, he leaned against the wall as flecks of sunlight fell around him.

The boy stood slightly against the light, his skin fair and clear, his peach-blossom eyes exquisite and bold. Plenty of girls stopped to sneak glances at him.

Shen Sangyu calmly looked away.

As they brushed past each other, Lin Wei lifted his eyes and said as if it were nothing,

"Good student, pretending you don't know me?"

-

Later, on the A University campus, in a secluded grove.

Lin Wei hooked his little finger around hers and pinned her against a bench.

Around them was the dry summer evening breeze, the rustling of leaves, and his clean, warm scent.

He looked at her flushed face and chuckled softly.

"Good student, want me to teach you how to kiss?"

[Shen Sangyu's Diary]

1. The year Lin Wei moved in next door, he was so annoying. He skipped class and got into fights every day.

He was a total idiot.

My mom wouldn't let me hang out with idiots.

2. I think I might like this idiot a little.

[Lin Wei's Diary]

1. Her mom won't let her hang out with me. Annoying.

2. I skipped class to get her a limited-edition record and got caught by the homeroom teacher. Annoying.

3. She has so many suitors. I have to beat one up every week. Annoying.

99. Shen Sangyu is so damn hard to win over :)

Later, at a class reunion, someone brought up the genius who had earned early admission to A University.

Lin Wei said calmly, "I won her over."

It took ten years.

#She Is the Beauty Mark on My Heart, and the Moonlight of My Life#

Genius girl x bad-boy charmer

Childhood friends / Mutual pining / Sweet romance

Coming soon 2: "The Moon Bites Spring"

Aloof Buddhist monk x a beauty who charms without realizing it

-

In Jia Yin's eyes, Jing Rong was the young Buddhist monk famed throughout the land for his wisdom. A red cinnabar mark between his brows, a green jade zither in his hands, and an otherworldly bearing untouched by worldly dust.

That day, he was ordered to enter the palace and pray for the Empress Dowager. She swept aside the curtain and stepped barefoot onto a soft carpet embroidered with cranes and deer, performing a play about Guanyin bestowing a child.

Jing Rong lowered his lashes, avoiding her bright, winsome eyes. But as he lowered his gaze, he caught sight of her snow-white ankle.

That alluring little red beauty mark.

That night, as he knelt before the Buddha and recited the Heart-Cleansing Mantra for the tenth time,

the young woman stepped into the shrine bathed in moonlight and bowed several times to the statue of Guanyin.

Beneath her gauzy skirt, a cinnabar beauty mark was clearly visible. The tiny bells on her feet chimed, stirring the plain white curtains.

A gust of wind swept through the hall, and several prayer beads suddenly slipped from the monk's hand.

Before the ancient Buddha and the green lamplight, he closed his eyes.

In his heart, he cursed himself: A sinful temptation.

-

Jing Rong was a monk unmoved by joy or sorrow, profound in Buddhist teachings, compassionate yet merciless.

He had once personally driven a younger disciple who had broken his vows out of the monastery. He never imagined that one day, upon hearing that she was going to marry, he would rush into the pouring rain.

In the torrential rain, she wore her wedding dress and cursed him again and again.

"Jing Rong, are you here to steal me away?"

"The most prized disciple of Master Qingyuan, the revered Master Jing Rong! Do you even know what you're doing?"

She called him by his Buddhist name and cursed him for his grave sins.

In the rainy night, Jing Rong stood stunned, gazing at her for a long time before two streams of tears fell down his face.

"I am guilty of grave sins."

Everyone watched as the revered, aloof monk stepped by step betrayed the faith he had held for years, took off his kasaya, and descended into the mortal world.

-

Years later, he was copying Buddhist scriptures at night when she came over with a steaming bowl of lotus seed soup.

Jia Yin wrapped herself in the monk's oversized kasaya and asked with great interest, "What is the Goddess Guanyin like?"

Jing Rong sat upright, his expression unchanged. "She saves all living beings. She is infinitely compassionate."

"Then..." The young woman curled her red lips into a radiant smile. "What about me?"

How could a mortal compare to a deity?

A teasing warmth suddenly drifted to his nose. He lowered his eyes, then bent over and kissed her before the Buddha statue.

"A Yin, save me."

#Defying a Lifelong Faith to Love Someone Without Hesitation#

#Buddhism Is My Faith, but Loving You Is Instinct#

Theme: Women should be independent and strong