The Glazed Lock [Republican Era]

(Free short story. My upcoming long novels are "Pride" [Republican Era] and "Beasts in a Cage." Please add them to your reading list.)

Ding Shaoyun returns from studying abroad with a set of Western ways. She plays around with men and earns herself a bad reputation.

Her family panics and rushes to arrange a marriage for her: she is to marry Second Master Song, a former official of the previous dynasty.

Everyone of note in Tianjin knows that Second Master Song is a little crazy.

He insists on the old rules. Servants must bow whenever they meet, and not a single courtesy can be skipped. Along with his gloomy, three-courtyard residence, he lives in the old days by himself.

Ding Shaoyun wants to run. She absolutely refuses to spend her life locked inside a tower of glass.

"Go on, run."

The man's long, slender fingers crushed the sandalwood incense powder as he spoke nonchalantly.

"Just one thing: don't let me catch you."

*Escape the doll's house and become an independent person. Happy ending.

Upcoming Novel 1: "An Unspeakable Addiction"

A.

Gao Xiao first met Chen Dongyi on a snowy night in Beijing.

His features seemed kissed by spring, gentle and full of life, and they melted the wounded woman's heart.

But Gao Xiao didn't know then that this seemingly chance encounter was the beginning of a surging undercurrent.

Every unexpected meeting is carefully planned.

B.

Chen Dongyi often thinks back to that night ten years ago.

He and Gao Xiao sat shoulder to shoulder in a cluttered stairwell. The girl took his hand and pressed it against her throat, then slowly drew out a long note.

His fingers trembled along with her voice, and the whole world resonated in silence.

For the first time, Chen Dongyi felt that he could hear: he heard the pounding of the feelings in his heart.

His longing was buried too deep and hidden for too long, becoming an unspeakable addiction he couldn't confess.

One day, the wound in his heart would fester. He would be beyond saving, unless he could have her.

[Amnesiac ray of sunshine VS sickly, highly intelligent obsessive]

*Originally titled "The Sun's A and B Sides"

*Mutual pining. Childhood sweethearts. The male lead had poor hearing as a child and later got a cochlear implant.

Upcoming Novel 2: "Beasts in a Cage"

When Qin Chu walks into the theater, she sees that the strange, handsome man is sitting in the center of the front row again.

She tells jokes and delivers punchlines. The other audience members laugh so hard they nearly fall out of their seats. He alone leans back in his chair, expressionless.

The man's light brown eyes stare at Qin Chu like a beast waiting to hunt.

He didn't come to watch the show.

He came to watch her.

*

There's a rumor in Beijing's social scene that Lin San has a peculiar little preference.

Lots of women like him, but the ones who actually get close to him all have dimples.

At a dinner his friends had arranged, Qiao Zheng holds out his phone right in front of Lin San.

"This is my new girlfriend," Qiao Zheng says, pointedly looking at Lin San.

On the screen, a young woman is doing stand-up comedy. She's sharp-tongued, with a cutting wit.

The others are laughing so hard they can barely breathe, but she doesn't crack a smile. Only at the end, as she casually curls her lips while taking her leave, do a pair of dimples appear.

"What do you think, Mr. Lin?" Qiao Zheng asks, inexplicably provocative.

As he speaks, the phone is passed to Lin San.

The man merely glances at it, then hands it back, looking utterly indifferent.

"She's pretty good."

*

How long can someone live while carrying a secret? Lin San doesn't know.

He only knows he's struggled in the mire for fifteen years and can't take another minute.

A drowning person has to grab at a straw. Now that he has finally seen Qin Chu again, he can't let go.

Whether they flee together across the endless sea of suffering, or plunge together into the abyss.

*The male lead has no past relationships. A story of mutual healing with a touch of mystery. The male lead's name will be decided when I start writing. I'm not good at coming up with names.

Theme: The moon and you are both poetry