Hiding the Stars

[The secret-crush story This Flower in Bloom? is now underway! Please add the upcoming stories If the Heart Stirs and I Want to Confess to You to your favorites, dear readers! Blurbs below!]

In high school, Song Zhou was known as an indifferent, heartless "study machine." It seemed nothing but grades could stir her heart.

Xu Chaoci, meanwhile, was rumored to be a delinquent surrounded by bad influences. With a face as striking as they come, he never lacked girls eager to chase after him, no matter how many rumors followed him.

They should have been parallel lines that never crossed, until one day Xu Chaoci stopped Song Zhou in the library after the crowd had dispersed.

"So the person Senior likes isn't me after all." Xu Chaoci raised an eyebrow and lightly pinched the corner of the paper. The pale lights shone brilliantly on the heartfelt words written there.

Song Zhou, usually so cool and composed, completely lost her bearings.

*

When they met again years later, Song Zhou, who had once been the most dutiful and predictable person, had become a photography blogger who couldn't stop moving.

And Xu Chaoci, once so carefree and unruly, had become a doctor who saved lives.

In the empty school building, Xu Chaoci, wearing a white shirt, leaned against the classroom windowsill and stretched. His beautiful, peach-blossom eyes met Song Zhou's gaze with casual ease.

"Senior, long time no see."

His voice sounded bewitching, luring her deeper with every step.

*

In the library of Xingqu No. 2 High School, there was a battered copy of The Little Prince. A sheet of scrap paper tucked inside had these words on the front: Trying your hardest to hide your love is like doing everything you can to hide a star. On the back were four crossed-out characters.

Song Zhou was the last person to borrow the book. The crossed-out words were "To Xu Chaoci."

----Upcoming Story----

Blurb for This Flower in Bloom

On the fourteenth day after breaking up with Lin Guo, Lou Wen received a letter containing a train ticket to Lhasa and a small note that read, "Please come with me."

She thought it was a ploy by her ex-boyfriend to get back together, but it turned out to be a trip for her alone.

As the train headed toward an unfamiliar destination, her fellow passengers talked about their secret crushes, and she suddenly remembered that summer ten years ago, when she first fell into a tender whirlpool.

*

Prayer flags fluttered on Mount Nagin. Lou Wen scattered the lungta in her hand, and as the wind carried them away again and again, she prayed over and over for Lin Guo's peace and happiness, even if she would not be by his side in the end.

*

No one knew that Lou Wen's secret crush began that sweltering summer.

Later, everyone knew that Lin Guo and Lou Wen would be in love forever.

"I love this boy, is it ironic? Is this flower in bloom? Is this flower in bloom?" - Can't Quit, Ouyang Yaoying

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Blurb for If the Heart Stirs

Mu Nian, the entertainment industry's famously aloof beauty and a heaven-sent star devoted to her career, is suddenly exposed as dating an ordinary man outside the industry.

Passersby are shocked, haters rejoice, fans rush to deny it, and her studio posts a clarification saying the man in the photos is Mu Nian's biological older brother.

Just as everyone has had their fill of gossip and is about to move on, Mu Nian, who has been out of contact for a whole day while filming deep in the mountains, suddenly posts a picture of her marriage certificate: "We weren't dating. I'm married."

After digging around, people discover that the groom in the photo is none other than Xie Baiyu, the youngest professor at a prestigious university who has recently made a name for himself.

Weibo crashes. Mu Nian's fans tearfully try to talk her out of it, and the physics community is heartbroken.

Just as everyone decides the couple won't last without their blessing, Mu Nian, who has never appeared on a variety show in her six years since debut, suddenly announces a slow-paced reality show about married life.

When the show airs, the aloof goddess turns into a goofball who loves making comedy clips, while the icy professor becomes a doting husband who plays favorites.

Mu Nian's fans say: "Our brother-in-law is the best! Keep it up, brother-in-law! Thanks for taking care of our adorable little airhead."

Xie Baiyu's colleagues say: "Mu Nian, please stay with him a little longer. His poker face has relapsed."

The gossip-loving public says: "I'm locking this couple in. I've thrown the key into the Mariana Trench."

An icy, double-standard professor who's indulgent only with you x a silly, straightforward girl with maxed-out cuddling skills

All characters are fictional, so please don't try to match them to real people!

Both are each other's first and only, 1v1 sweet romance (guaranteed sweetness!)

Blurb for I Want to Confess to You

Yin Qiuqiu is nicknamed the Trumpet Flower. Her friends range from an eighty-year-old hard-of-hearing grandpa to an eight-month-old baby girl who's just been weaned. She has so many friends they could circle the neighborhood three times. The only person she has never been able to handle, from childhood to adulthood, is Zhao Qimo, the boy next door and the other people's child she could never escape growing up.

In elementary school, she got 100 on one test, while he got 100 on every test.

In middle school, she became a group leader, and he became class president.

In high school, she performed exceptionally and won the class's Most Improved Student award, while he underperformed and only got the class's Model Student award.

So every year, one of Yin Qiuqiu's birthday wishes was always: Please make Zhao Qimo move away, and the farther the better.

Perhaps heaven was moved by her unwavering wishes over ten years, because on her eighteenth birthday, Zhao Qimo's family finally announced they were moving abroad.

Yin Qiuqiu was even more excited than if she'd won fifty yuan on a scratch card. She was so happy she didn't sleep all night, and even finished the three math tests she'd been putting off.

But early the next morning, just as she was about to lie down and catch up on sleep, someone knocked at her door. When she opened it, Zhao Qimo stood outside, grinning sweeter than peach blossoms in spring and holding a stack of books.

She must have opened the door the wrong way!

She opened it again, and Zhao Qimo had already moved his things into her guest room.

I've heard of people giving away a sofa when they move out, but who gives away their son?

--Little Scene--

After their 101st eye contact, Yin Qiuqiu finally couldn't take it anymore. She pointed at Zhao Qimo across from her. "Admit it, you're secretly in love with me!"

Zhao Qimo remained calm. "If someone can find out, it's not a secret crush."

Yin Qiuqiu frowned. "Then what is it called?"

"An open crush." The index finger she hadn't pulled back was suddenly caught in his hand. The man across from her smiled triumphantly, bright as the morning sun.

Zhao Qimo

Happy ending, both pure, both each other's first, sweet romance

Theme: Love heals.