Wanwan

[Published under the title Late Late, now available! Weibo: Que Ya]

[1]

The Yu and Jiang families have been close for generations.

Yu Wan grew up playing with Jiang Che, following him around and sweetly calling him “Big Brother.”

They made a good match, so their elders arranged a marriage for them early on.

Even her best friend teased them: “You two have been childhood sweethearts forever. You’re even sweeter than those couples who go from school uniforms to wedding dresses.”

Yu Wan blushed and said nothing, but she was happy inside.

Until she was seventeen,

when Jiang Che met a girl.

The girl came from a poor family but was fiercely independent. She had a cool, aloof beauty and a personality to match.

Jiang Che fell in love with her at first sight.

[2]

Jiang Che rushed to the hospital after hearing that Yu Wan had been in a car accident.

In the hospital bed, the girl stared at him with pale, unfamiliar, guarded eyes.

Under her oversized hospital gown, her small hands clutched her brother’s sleeve as she nervously asked,

“Lu Shi, who is he?”

The next second, Jiang Che watched his cousin, usually so cold he was impossible to get near, gently place a hand on the girl’s head and stroke it. His voice was low and tender. “He’s nobody. I’ll have him leave right away.”

Jiang Che: ???

At a banquet later on,

Jiang Che watched Yu Wan hold his brother’s arm the whole time, her almond-shaped eyes curved with a sweet, soft smile

that spoke of an intimacy beyond words.

He regretted it. Jealousy drove him mad.

Before the banquet ended, he pulled her outside.

“Wanwan.”

Just those two words, and his eyes were already red.

Before he could say anything else, Lu Shi appeared.

With an unmistakably possessive air, the man pulled the girl into his arms. His lips curled up, but his gaze was cold.

“Learn some manners. You should be calling her Sister-in-law.”

[3]

Lu Shi was brought back to the Jiang family when he was seventeen.

An illegitimate son, he’d suffered an ear injury and was half-deaf.

Even the household servants looked at him with mockery in their eyes.

But one silly girl wasn’t afraid of his coldness. She took off her scarf, rose on tiptoe, and wrapped it around his neck.

Her eyes curved with her smile, and her voice was soft. “It’s cold. You should dress warmly.”

A kind, adorable fairy-like girl VS a cruel, cold young man

Reader notes:

Both leads have only been with each other. Childhood friends, sort of. A sweet romance.

My new story, Craving Her, is now underway. Please add it to your favorites, my dears~

At the end of August, Ruan Zhen showed up at her new school with her face bruised and swollen from a fall, completely unrecognizable.

At the far end of the asphalt road, scorched by the sun,

a young man lounged against a black supercar, surrounded by a crowd. A girl stood on tiptoe, eagerly lighting his cigarette.

Zhou Baichen kindly warned her,

“They’re all rich kids who don’t bother studying. Especially Pei Zhou, the one at the center. He’s a bad influence and totally wild. Zhenzhen, don’t be like the other girls and get bewitched by his looks.”

Remembering the glimpse she’d just caught, Ruan Zhen felt no fondness for him.

-

By the car, a few boys spotted the two of them, too.

Everyone knew Pei Zhou and Zhou Baichen couldn’t stand each other, so the boys didn’t hold back.

“Well, well, Zhou Baichen’s wiping sweat off that girl. Are they dating?”

“Haha, he must have a weird taste if he likes that disfigured face.”

Amid the laughter, no one noticed

Pei Zhou’s jaw tighten. Ash fell from his cigarette, one clump after another, but he stayed perfectly still.

His dark eyes remained fixed on the slender figure disappearing into the distance,

jealousy simmering beneath the surface.

-

A little over a month later, Ruan Zhen’s injuries healed,

revealing her stunningly beautiful face.

Passing by a room, she heard Pei Zhou’s friend joking with him: “Ruan Zhen is so beautiful now, and she’s Zhou Baichen’s childhood sweetheart. If you win her over, Zhou Baichen will be furious, Brother Zhou.”

Ruan Zhen paused.

Not long afterward, she took the initiative and confessed to Pei Zhou because she needed something from him.

The girl’s eyes were clear and pure. She looked nervous, but her honesty was almost too blunt. “I know you’re only nice to me and want to date me because of Zhou Baichen. I can be your girlfriend.”

The lazy look on Pei Zhou’s face disappeared. His dark eyes gazed deeply at her. After a long while, he parted his lips and smiled, returning to his nonchalant manner. “Sure.”

When they started dating, the girls were jealous and confused.

“She’s pretty, but she’s so dull and boring. Pei Zhou’s only playing around with her.”

Everyone thought Pei Zhou was only indulging a passing whim, Ruan Zhen included.

No one expected them to stay together until after the college entrance exams, or for Ruan Zhen to be the one to dump him and go abroad.

Years later, at a class reunion,

Pei Zhou, who didn’t show up, became the center of conversation. Everyone talked about him freely in front of Ruan Zhen: successful, influential in business, and worth more money than anyone could count.

No one thought the two of them still had a chance, and neither did Ruan Zhen.

That is, until the man kissed her until her tongue went numb and her breathing and thoughts became a complete mess. She gazed at him with damp eyes, confused. “I thought you were furious with me.”

“I’m furious as hell.”

Pei Zhou gently bit her lip, then took advantage of the moment she parted her lips to slip his tongue in again, kissing her even harder. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m crazy about you.”

Theme: Hold on to the light.