Reaching for the Stars

Bai Lan’s Chicken Essence. Copy saved on 2026/8/25, screenshot taken.

In the first year of Jiang Tang’s engagement, her fiancé dies in an extreme water sports accident.

It rains for three straight days in Hong Kong. The search and rescue operation finds nothing, not even a body.

The funeral is held at the old family home halfway up the hill. The people who used to greet her with a cheerful “Sister-in-law” now look at her differently.

“Such a shame,” someone says. “She was so close to marrying into the family.”

Someone else laughs softly. “She never married him, so she was never really anything to them.”

When the guests disperse, her fiancé’s younger sister holds out an umbrella and says gently, “Miss Jiang, the family car is full.”

From “Sister-in-law” back to “Miss Jiang.”

Jiang Tang stands quietly for a moment, then suddenly lifts her skirt and walks through the crowded courtyard toward the black car at the end of the long steps.

Everyone in Hong Kong recognizes the license plate.

Gu Xingzhou, the head of the Gu family.

A few years older than her, born into privilege, ruthless in business, and known for his cold heart.

Jiang Tang knocks on the car window.

The window lowers, and the man looks at her through the rain.

“Mr. Gu, could I get a ride?”

Everyone expects her to make a fool of herself.

But moments later, Gu Xingzhou opens the car door for her himself.

“Get in.”

·

Later, everyone in Hong Kong says Jiang Tang is lucky.

The high branch she was about to marry into broke, and in the blink of an eye, she climbed an even higher one.

The Gu family values its rules above all. For decades, the seating at family banquets has been determined by age and status. Yet for the first time, Gu Xingzhou has a seat added at his right hand.

When an elder tells Jiang Tang to serve tea, he says coolly, “She doesn’t have to.”

Someone laughs that she doesn’t understand the Gu family’s rules.

Gu Xingzhou lowers his eyes as he straightens the shawl around her shoulders. “She doesn’t have to follow my rules.”

After that, no one dares lecture Jiang Tang about etiquette.

But Jiang Tang gradually realizes that Gu Xingzhou knows she takes her tea without sugar, knows she’s afraid of thunderstorms, knows which street she lived on as a child, and even remembers old things she herself has nearly forgotten.

It seems this man didn’t only start getting to know her after she knocked on his car window.

·

On the day their wedding date is to be set, rain falls over Hong Kong once again.

Jiang Tang receives an unsigned envelope.

Inside is a single photograph.

A man sits on a foreign street, his features clear, his expression carefree.

It’s the fiancé who “died” two years ago.

On the back of the photograph is handwriting she knows all too well.

A Tang.

Why are you marrying someone else?

1. The male lead is a patriarchal, doting man who plots to steal her away.

2. The obsessive ex gets his comeuppance.

3. Drafting in progress. I’ll start posting once I have 100,000 characters ready.

Theme: True love isn’t possession, but respect for each other’s choices.