[Princess x Rough-and-Ready Man]
[Traditional Painting Restorer x Cultural Relics Detective]
The first time Song Jiaxi spoke face-to-face with Jiang Xun was when she was eighteen.
Gathering all her courage, she confessed her feelings to the boy she liked for the first time in her life.
In a gloomy, damp alley, the boy leaned lazily against the wall, one hand in his pocket as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
His usually neat school uniform hung loosely on him, one pant leg rolled up. No matter how you looked at him, there was a hint of roguishness about him. He hardly seemed like a good student.
One of his companions gave him a teasing look and joked, "Hey, boss, even the little princess likes you."
Song Jiaxi's cheeks flushed red, and she couldn't help gripping the hem of her pure white skirt.
Jiang Xun paid her no mind. As he passed her, he casually smoothed down her flipped-up collar and teased, "Go home and be a good princess. I'm not worthy of you."
The second time she spoke face-to-face with him was when she was twenty-six.
She had been brought to the police station for questioning as a suspect, and the officer in charge pulled her, trembling, out of the interrogation room.
He wore a crisp police uniform. Tall and solemn, with sharp eyes and brows that still held the rebellious spirit of his youth.
He was somewhat like the boy she'd known years ago, and somewhat different.
Song Jiaxi hadn't expected to meet him again under these circumstances. Bracing herself, she greeted him: "It's been... been a long time."
But Jiang Xun merely glanced at her nonchalantly, his tone strictly professional. "We'll contact you if we need anything. Keep your phone on."
Song Jiaxi had always thought that, in Jiang Xun's eyes, she was spoiled, childish, and laughably foolish, a delicate little princess who was out of touch with the real world and whom he couldn't stand.
Until one day, quite by chance, she saw a ginkgo leaf bookmark in his wallet.
That was the ginkgo leaf she'd casually given him when she first met him at sixteen.
-
Ginkgo leaves usually keep for twelve to twenty-four months.
But he had carefully dried and laminated that leaf, and carried it with him ever since.
*Plot + romance
Theme: Stand on your own two feet, and find companionship in understanding one another
