Zhaxi had a secret crush on someone.
From the first days of spring, when it was eighteen degrees, all the way to a morning many years later.
Many years passed. After a reunion he had deliberately arranged, he had grown into exactly the kind of man Bian Chen liked best. His black hair was damp and soft, clinging to his slightly disheveled cheeks. He had just been caught in the rain, and his soaked shirt clung to his broad shoulders. His sharply defined jaw was taut, and his chocolate-colored forearms were thick and solid. Tall and sturdy, he looked more like a man from somewhere other than Asia.
Bian Chen watched him without showing any emotion, from his bare feet up to his lowered eyes. He noticed how strong the fingers gripping the doorframe were, and naturally noticed, too, that the man didn't dare look at him.
So Bian Chen soon leaned down toward him, looking up with a pretty, wicked smile. "What's wrong? Blushing just because you see a man?"
Zhaxi was silent for two seconds. "I don't think so."
Bian Chen lazily reached out and felt the misty rain beyond the eaves. He gave an indifferent nod. "Fine. If you say you're not, then you're not."
*
Bian Chen had a bad reputation and was a hot topic of conversation at university. Everyone said he was arrogant, flirtatious, and fickle. They spared no words in painting him in the worst light, but in the end, it was those very same people who told Zhaxi, "It's perfectly normal to fall for him. You can't help it."
Zhaxi understood perfectly, so he nodded and said, "I know."
"A heavy snow fell in Tongpan City, its white blanket covering the colorful prayer flags, while passersby came and went. The day I slipped away from the crowd to see you off, it felt like I was sending off a god."
Pairing: The sweet, well-behaved country puppy who was halfway through going mad, then stopped when the beautiful bad boy he had loved as a youth came back years later, versus the cold, sharp-tongued, mean-hearted man who could only pretend to be gentle for so long. [The one on the left is the top. That should make it clear enough now!]
* One-on-one, younger top, four-year age gap. The top was the first to fall in love, before anyone else. [Even clearer now!]
Blurb revised on May 5, 2022. It may still change, but the characters won't. ^_^
*
A few casual content warnings, nothing too troubling:
A secret crush comes true. / Both characters are ordinary people. / The timeline is very long, spanning half a lifetime. It's not mutual pining from the start. Bian Chen has a romantic history [and a life to go with it], and he really knows how to date. / Later on, the mutual pining is exactly what you'd expect. / Zhaxi isn't suffering. He's having a great time.
All in all, probably not for readers with extreme character preferences.
* I'll do my best to update daily and have chapters saved ahead of time. If I need a break, I'll post a notice. Delayed updates will be posted at @PuPuTongTongXiaoXiZi. Thanks for your understanding and for reading.
Theme: In the snow-covered city of Tongpan, he leans against the prayer flags and blesses an old love.
