Competing for Spring

[Main Story Complete, Extras Updating...]

That day, Chun Man attended her boyfriend's company retreat as his family member.

Her boyfriend announced their engagement to all his colleagues. Amid their congratulations, Chun Man noticed the cold gaze of Zhao Huazhi, the young owner who had just acquired the company.

Her boyfriend told her privately that Mr. Zhao was both shrewd and calculating, and that whatever caught his eye rarely slipped through his fingers.

Chun Man had always felt that someone from Zhao Huazhi's world should have nothing to do with someone like her.

Until one day, all her friends agreed: Zhao Huazhi treats you differently. Are you two really sure there's nothing going on?

Chun Man thought this absurd misunderstanding was seriously affecting her life. She confronted him directly to ask for the truth and tried to stop things from going any further.

Instead, Zhao Huazhi cornered her in a cramped product-selection storeroom and demanded forcefully, "I knew you before he did. Why can't I have a chance?"

Separated from the bustling livestream outside, where product hosts were selling their wares, by nothing but a curtain, Chun Man heard her heart racing out of control and seemed to glimpse a future in which everyone would condemn her.

-

If Chun Man were a bird, her seemingly generous (ex-)boyfriend would be a cage. However beautiful it might be, it would still rob her of her freedom forever.

Only Zhao Huazhi dared to be a sky. No matter how high or far she flew, she would forever belong to his world.

-Animal rescue x tech tycoon

-Temporary one-on-one romance, with the male lead secretly in love and eventually winning her over.

My next book will be the campus romance Gradually, or the marriage-first, love-later romance Beneath the Oak.

Synopsis for Gradually:

To give Chen Jian time to date, He Min tries to improve the returns on his work-study job.

After mulling it over, she decides the easiest solution is to slip a "future girlfriend fund" into his paycheck.

When Chen Jian learns that she paid out of pocket to raise his wages, he immediately returns the money.

He thinks it will take some effort to convince her, but He Min happily accepts it before he can say much.

Yet a moment later, she pouts awkwardly and says plaintively, "If my dad finds out I've accepted pocket money from another boy, he'll break my legs. So, Chen Jian, you'll have to protect me when that happens."

"..."

-An (impossibly) unreasonable heiress x a straightforward guy who sometimes gives in too easily

Synopsis for Beneath the Oak:

Gu Yu's family wants to ingratiate themselves with the Wen family, so they make up a story about her having been secretly in love with Wen Jiming for years in hopes of arranging a marriage alliance. Wen Jiming rejects it without mercy, and Gu Yu becomes a laughingstock overnight.

Furious, Gu Yu runs away from home and hides far away, changing her name and starting a new life.

-

Wen Jiming doesn't want to take over the family business, so he secretly returns to the country and spends two years in a small city in the south.

Sometimes he's an architect, sometimes a foodie. He's well-read and cultivated, but rarely socializes, wasting a handsome face that would otherwise turn heads.

One day, a woman from out of town moves in next door. She's a wonderful cook.

The fragrant dishes she makes around mealtimes prompt him to knock on her door. "Hello. I'd be happy to pay you. I'd like to try your lunch."

-

After hiding away for nearly half a year, Gu Yu is summoned home by her persistent relatives to meet the fiancé she's barely even been promised to.

On the day of the dinner, she sees in the lobby the aloof, antisocial man she'd shared a place next to during her travels. Before she can go say hello, she hears someone call him "Wen Jiming."

Oh!

So this is the man whose secret admirer she supposedly was, the one who turned her into a laughingstock?

[Bonus Scene]

After they get drunk and sleep together one night, Gu Yu wakes up regretting what happened and runs away at once.

When they meet again, she puts on an act and apologizes. "I blacked out last night. Sorry about that."

Wen Jiming smiles magnanimously. "It's all right. I'll remind you. You said you adored me and wanted to make a lifelong commitment to me."

Gu Yu looks as if she's far too clever to be tricked and cuts him off without mercy. "No way. I only said we should have a fake marriage."

"Fine." Wen Jiming agrees briskly and decisively, his calm expression hiding the fact that he's already won.

"..."

-Socially anxious architect x quirky young woman

Theme: Resolutely reaching for spring.