Ginger Sugar in Milk

[Please, don't read this! The whole novel is undergoing a major revision, but the revisions aren't finished yet!]

[Mutual devotion, mutual growth, and mutual unrequited love]

On a bitterly cold night, Ye Miandong and Zheng Yuhuai had one of the few chances to sit down and have a proper chat since they began sharing a rental.

To cheer her up, Zheng Yuhuai sang her a song to help her relax.

In return, Ye Miandong sang him “Daddy Long Legs,” a song she had privately wanted to sing for him for a long time.

When the music stopped, both of them felt a little dazed.

After a moment, he said, “I’ll learn it.”

“Learn... learn what?”

Zheng Yuhuai lowered his eyes to his phone screen, as if he were reading the lyrics. “Learn how to become a long-legged uncle gentler than sunshine. Oh, no, I mean a big brother.”

Ye Miandong: “...”

The man held his phone out toward her. “You should learn, too.”

Ye Miandong looked confused. “Learn what?”

Zheng Yuhuai raised his eyes to look at her. The faint light from the screen fell into his eyes as he smiled. “How to be a girl who is loved.”

.

In high school, Ye Miandong had a crush on Zheng Yuhuai, who sat behind her.

The First High School had a debate team, and she had always wanted to join. But to get in, she first had to compete in the tryouts, and by bad luck, she drew Zheng Yuhuai as her opponent.

Before the match began, she curled up in her seat, so nervous she looked ready to cry.

The boy, coming toward her with the light behind him, bent down until they were eye to eye. The straight line of his lips curved into a beautiful smile.

“What are you smiling at?”

“The fourth debater on the opposing team is too nervous, so I’m smiling to help her relax.”

Only later did Ye Miandong find out that Zheng Yuhuai liked her too. He had liked her since high school, perhaps even earlier.

.

“Scaredy-cat, we won’t get separated this time.”

“So hold on tight to my hand, okay?”

Ye Miandong’s hand trembled in midair. The next moment, he clasped it.

“Then I’ll hold on to you, and you make sure to stay with me.”

Ye Miandong deliberately challenged him. “What if I lose you?”

The man was quiet for a moment, then chuckled softly. “I’ll catch you and make you hold my hand properly.”

That night, Ye Miandong heard him say, “My girl can’t get lost. I couldn’t bear to lose her.”

[You are a thorn along the road I traveled to reach you, and a cluster of roses at the end of the path from which there is no return. From now on, the stars shine across the sky, and the rest of my life belongs to you alone.]

(A story about an innocent, well-behaved girl and a handsome, roguish young master.)

[A dessert shop owner who is a little wild but also gentle, loves to act spoiled, and knows how to cling to people x a university lecturer who is a little absent-minded and a little socially awkward, blushes easily, and has a slightly sharp tongue]

P.S. Please forgive me for not knowing the difference between living together and sharing a rental.

The female lead’s personality is especially contradictory and repressed. If you can’t handle that, don’t read.

The story’s guiding idea: He said he would spend his whole life cherishing the person before him.