His Venus [Mutual Redemption]

Chang Yi'an and Gu Wenli met as children. Back then, she lived on the sixth floor, while he lived in the basement. He transferred into her class, and because she was young and ignorant, she did something that hurt him. Not long afterward, he transferred away, and she heard he had gone back to his hometown in the countryside. Five years later, they met again in high school. By then, he was a star student at No. 3 High School, having gotten in with the highest score in the city and even skipped a grade. Chang Yi'an had failed the high school entrance exam and only just made it into No. 3 after repeating a year. To make up for what she had done, Chang Yi'an did everything she could to treat him well. In time, her guilt turned into a young, passionate love. Everyone at No. 3 knew Chang Yi'an liked Gu Wenli. She was planning to wait until after his college entrance exams to confess, but then disaster struck. Her family was on a trip when an earthquake hit. Her parents died, and she lost a leg. Ten years later, they met again. He was carrying a medical document folder when he came to pick up a package. She smiled awkwardly and asked him for the pickup code. Later, when Chang Yi'an stood onstage to receive an award at a singing competition, Gu Wenli smiled and applauded for her from the audience. The host asked what she most wanted to say at that moment. Chang Yi'an held the trophy in both hands, tears in her eyes, and looked at the refined, handsome man below the stage. "I once wanted to confess to a boy. I'd already bought the fireworks and balloons, but then I broke my promise. I'm eleven years late, but I want to tell him: I love you, Gu Wenli. You were the best gift I got on my eighth birthday, the most brilliant fireworks of my youth, and a ray of light in my life." Gu Wenli smiled through red-rimmed eyes below the stage. No one knew that deep in his heart, he had kept a girl hidden for ten years. One moment of love, ten years of devotion. On a winter night in the year 2000, a display of fireworks beside the Jialing River burned through the rest of his youth. She was the ray of light in his life, the sun above his head that would never fade, and his Venus for all time. Content warnings: 1. This is a romance that is both realistic and dreamlike, a story about two people saving each other. The plot is entirely fictional, and the leads are not based on real people. Please don't project real people onto them. 2. The characters are all flawed. If that's not for you, please don't read, and please don't insult them. Life is hard, so please be kind to them. Next book: Flame's Devotion Blurb: Word has it that Fu Zhenhe, the third young master of the Fu family in Beijing's elite circle, is cold and proud, detached and celibate. He always wears a string of eighteen bodhi beads around his wrist, and no woman has ever gotten close to him. He's known as the aloof Buddha. The first time Xiang Xiaokui met him, she had been invited to attend a university anniversary celebration at the Teachers University. In an empty conference room in the auditorium, she mistook him for the blind date she was supposed to meet. That day, Xiang Xiaokui braved the bone-chilling cold and walked alongside him across campus, forcing herself to chat for ten minutes about "interesting things" at the university. The next time she saw him was at a parent-teacher meeting. She was mortified, but still forced herself to talk with him for ten minutes about "how to deal with rebellious teenagers." Later, he found her and proposed a marriage of convenience. She was in a difficult situation at the time, so she agreed. One day, a friend from their social circle teased him: "I thought you were going to be a monk for life. What made you suddenly return to the world?" He gave a cold, distant smile but didn't answer. The friend laughed again. "Really fallen for that silkworm girl?" His voice was low and icy. "The old man and the old lady have the utmost respect for teachers. She's talented and virtuous, and she's a teacher to several children in the family. She's the perfect person to use as a shield." In a secluded corner, Xiang Xiaokui felt a sharp ache in her heart. Leaning against the wall, she silently lifted the corners of her mouth. So that's how it is. A year later, their contract expired. She called him. "Mr. Fu, our contract expires tomorrow. Should we go take care of the divorce today or tomorrow?" After a long pause, his low, icy voice came through the phone. "Let's renew it for another year." Xiang Xiaokui replied gently, "I'm sorry, Mr. Fu, but I don't want to renew it. I've fallen for someone. I want to..." That evening, Fu Zhenhe took off the eighteen bodhi beads he'd worn around his wrist for twenty years, and his desire crashed down like an avalanche. He held her tight and kissed her fiercely, with such savage intensity that he seemed like a fallen god. After a storm of passion, Xiang Xiaokui pushed him away. "Mr. Fu, you broke the contract." Fu Zhenhe lowered his head to her neck, his breathing ragged and his breath burning hot. "Yes, I broke it. And I want to keep breaking it." Xiang Xiaokui smiled and took a few steps back. "Since you know I'm a teacher, Mr. Fu, you should know that most scholars are stubborn and proud. Better to die with one's fragrance clinging to the branch than to be blown down by the north wind." Fu Zhenhe watched her turn and disappear into the vast snowstorm, her slender, graceful figure gradually fading from view. Something suddenly split open in his heart, as if something were bursting out of his chest. Only then did he realize that, long before he'd even noticed, a sunflower seed had fallen into the barren wasteland of his heart. Now it had broken through the earth and bloomed. P.S. ★ A gentle, warmhearted teacher who's a little ray of sunshine X a cold, aloof beauty on a lofty peak. Nine-year age gap. ★ Marriage first, love later. The old flame catches fire, and the aloof beauty descends from her pedestal. A soapy, sweet CEO romance. Blurb written on December 28, 2022, and saved as a screenshot. Theme: Even at the lowest point in life, never give up