Be Good

That wasn't the first time Cheng Suining had seen Zhou Wenyan. She'd seen him full of ambition, seen him wild and carefree, and seen a string of different girls in his arms. But that was the time when her feelings for him were hardest to bear. On her roommate's birthday, she went into the wrong private room by mistake and happened to see him lounging on a sofa, idly playing with a lighter. The flame flickered beside him as a girl talked to him, but he only smiled and gave her the occasional perfunctory word or two. Back in her own room, for the first time, she was possessed by some impulse and messaged him: [Was the party fun today?] A second later, he replied: [It was boring without you.] Later, they broke up. Years after that, they met again in the rain and wind. She was being ordered around and looked down on by her boyfriend, utterly miserable. He crossed through a crowd of people fawning over him, ignoring their stares, and took her hand, placing an umbrella in it. In the dim light of a winter night, he lowered his eyes to look at her and said evenly, “Take the umbrella. Don't get wet.” Only then did she understand that without him, she had settled for less. A friend asked what happened after that. She smiled faintly and said nothing. But every year at Xiyuansi, beneath the gingko tree wreathed in clouds of incense and fireworks, a devout young woman appeared. On the first day of the lunar new year, a monk in blue robes told her that someone who was fated to meet her had left her a note. She unfolded it. The handwriting was familiar: “One wish each year, and may every wish come true.” She turned around instinctively. In the vast sea of people, all she saw was his gentle silhouette. Legal aid lawyer X aerospace designer Content notes: 1. Both leads are sexually inexperienced. The playboy reputation in the blurb doesn't reflect the male lead's actual circumstances, and the heroine's boyfriend in the blurb is a boyfriend of convenience. 2. The romance is a slow burn, and both leads are awkward in their own ways. 3. This differs from real life in places and includes many fictional details. Research for professional topics is based on online searches. 4. Please don't mention unrelated people in the comments. Be respectful of one another, thank you. 5. 70% anti-piracy protection. Chapters may repeat if your subscription rate isn't high enough. [Chapters 17–38 are discounted chapters. Do not purchase them twice.] Coming soon: "Into the Wild" Blurb: “I met Shen Fuye when he was seventeen. The first time I saw him, it felt like I'd been saved.” At 6:46 on a rainy evening, the little town, swallowed by the downpour, had already fallen asleep. The old glass sliding door of a small grocery store suddenly opened from the outside. In the murky, dim light, the man was drenched from head to toe, his dripping clothes blending into the bleak curtain of rain behind him. He kept his head down, looking utterly exhausted. Time dragged on slowly. Outside, the rain grew heavier, roaring until everything was lost in a white haze. The man's mood seemed to shift a little. He looked even more dejected. His back bent further as he leaned listlessly against the counter, his gaze wandering. Suddenly, he pointed to the hiring notice on the wall: Help wanted, 800 yuan a month. “Could I do it?” He raised an eyebrow slightly, the corner of his eye lifting at a sluggish pace. It was the first time he looked at her. And so that damp evening became a scene Wen Chiyu would never forget for the rest of her life. Small-town story. Rough, jaded man X quirky, well-behaved girl Theme: Study hard.