My Ex-Boyfriend Sells Fried Rice Outside My Office

For my other works, see:

"No One Told Me the Villain Was a Hopeless Romantic" A righteous heroine serving as a court enforcer × a representative villain, an elder of the Demon Cult; a sweet romance with two strong leads

"December, Looking for Her" A flirtatious, calculating, and bold older woman × a noble, devoted college boy; a tragic, powerful female lead

"My Gossiping Teammate Is on the Enemy's Side" Another absurd, funny online-game gossip story like this one

"Young Master Yu Is Always Winning Himself Over" A sweet xianxia romance about fated love across past and present lives

This story:

Also known as: "Later, I Realized I Had No Idea He'd Liked Me for So Long"

[Male-lead-angst story with a wife-chasing crematorium, told as a slapstick comedy. Please read the content warnings first.]

Highlights:

1. A keyboard-and-mouse online game story. The male and female leads meet in Moonlight Blade Online.

[The game setting is very important. Without the game, they would never have met, let alone fallen in love. Later on, they'll use secret identities in the game to test each other. If you don't like gaming, feel free to skip those parts.]

2. Each other's first love, with both body and heart devoted to one another. Their personalities are very different.

The heroine is arrogant, cold, and a capable professional in real life, but goofy, cheerful, and adorably different in the game. The hero is introverted, socially anxious, and insecure, a possessive, tea-green type who only loves the heroine. He's noble and pure, though that doesn't make his personality any less irritating. The author personally dislikes the character Liu Simou.

3. A reversal of the BE aesthetic: they mend their broken relationship and get a happy ending! The wife-chasing crematorium won't actually cremate anyone.

4. [The emotional angst is all aimed at the male lead, from beginning to end.]

The heroine's feelings will change as she puts the male lead through emotional torment, with the intensity building gradually. If you miss earlier plot points, you may not understand later ones, so it's best to read in order.

If you skip chapters and don't understand the plot, that's not my responsibility, so please don't ask me about it.

5. Inspired by real life, and authorized by the original person, A Lang. Here's a little flower for A Lang.

6. [The highlight buried in all the chatter]: The male lead is a simp, and the female lead is ill (physically ill).

7. [Important] This story is an absurd, slapstick comedy with mutual healing. It's cheerful, but mildly depressing.

[Writing a wife-chasing crematorium in this style may be a bit niche. I can't help it: I personally don't like scumbag men or wife-chasing crematorium stories, and writing one normally would make me feel conflicted. So, for the sake of telling the whole story, I chose a strange approach.

I had a lot of fun writing it, and that's enough for me. I hope you enjoy reading it too. If you don't, and you don't like this style, I recommend dropping the story rather than forcing yourself to continue. This is the only long novel I haven't meticulously revised, and the only one where I can't get invested in the main couple, because I only love the heroine and dislike the hero. I wrote it purely to give the heroine healing and happiness. If you insult the hero, that's got nothing to do with me, but don't insult anyone else.]

Also, I hope you never encounter someone like Liu Simou, whose courage and devotion arrive too late.

# [Slapstick Comedy Healing Story] Four Seasons of Peace series: Late Autumn

Theme: Face things bravely, and don't let your chances slip away