The Scent of Her Coffee

Ning Nuo runs a coffee shop tucked away in the suburbs.

The little shop keeps a low profile, serving mostly regulars and barely turning a profit.

Everyone knows the owner is beautiful but icy, and sharp-tongued to boot. The only thing more captivating than her is the rich aroma of her coffee.

One day, a man walks into the shop. "I want to open a coffee shop."

Ning Nuo: "Go ahead. What does that have to do with me?"

Man: "I want to hire you as the manager."

Ning Nuo: "Thanks, but no thanks."

Man: "A monthly salary of fifty thousand."

Ning Nuo: "I don't need your money."

Then disaster strikes. Ning Nuo is suddenly a hundred thousand yuan in debt, with only three thousand in her pocket.

She suddenly gets a whiff of the sweet scent of money.

Um, are you still looking for a shop manager?

*

Song Yizhi, CEO of an AI startup, has a weakness.

Whenever he can't get into the right frame of mind for work, he craves a cup of coffee from a little shop on the corner.

One day, his assistant tells him the shop probably won't stay open much longer. Word is that the owner is going back to her hometown.

He panics. Why not open a coffee shop himself and poach her? How hard could that be?

Ning Nuo always thought her boss was a dumb rich second-generation kid, a tacky nouveau riche who threw money around.

He didn't care if he lost money. He hired someone to open a coffee shop, then left her to handle everything herself.

Later, she discovers that her boss is a coffee fanatic who can tell whether a coffee is any good with one sip.

Then she discovers that her boss is a rising star in tech, a brilliant, no-nonsense scientist.

And finally, she realizes that Song Yizhi has started looking at her differently.

*

Everyone thinks that the heartthrob Song Yizhi has no interest in romance and is devoted to work, with not a single rumor about him in his twenty-nine years.

No one expects him to thank a woman in his speech at the bell-ringing ceremony celebrating his company's IPO.

"The person I most want to thank is my barista..."

The crowd gasps. "Is 'barista' some kind of kinky pet name? What does that even mean?"

The woman in the audience pulls her hat brim lower, but her stunning profile still makes the trending list.

Then the two are photographed passionately kissing inside the dim coffee shop, with the chaste Mr. Song pressing the woman's slender waist against him...

Onlookers: "So she really is his barista! Ahhhhh! Are we allowed to watch this for free?"

After Ning Nuo's entire life is dug up, her fans lose their minds:

#Holy crap, sis, marry me! She speaks five languages and used to work with Doctors Without Borders!#

#No wonder she won first prize for latte art. Hands that can wield a scalpel have to be steady!#

#Before Ning Nuo, who could ever deserve our Song Yizhi? After Ning Nuo, our Song Yizhi doesn't deserve her!#

Sharp-tongued, gorgeous, mysterious barista * unconventional, tsundere scientist who worships his girlfriend

Check out my upcoming novel, "The Losing-Dog Childhood Friend." This will be my next book!

On the eve of her twenty-ninth birthday, Park Yun is hit with a triple blow: she loses her job, gets sick, and gets dumped. Life has left her full of holes.

On the day she is laid off, before she even has time to fall apart, she receives her medical report: thyroid cancer, just like her mother.

The doctor pats her shoulder with a smile. "At least it's the lazy kind of cancer. The cure rate is higher than the odds of finding love."

She smiles and nods, nearly dying on the spot.

**

Her boyfriend's mother looks at her with disgust. "Bad genes. We can't have her."

Her boyfriend is even worse. "We're engaged anyway. One night together won't hurt."

She grabs a dictionary and smacks him over the head with it.

She and her mother are both hospitalized, with no one to look after them.

She thinks things can't get any worse, but then her mother secretly calls in reinforcements.

It's Zhou Zhiqing, the younger brother of her childhood friend, whom she hasn't seen in years.

Many years have passed. The little brat who used to chase her around with a runny nose and tears, crying, "Sis, wait for me!" is now six foot one, with long hair and deep-set eyes like an oil painting.

Broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and eight-pack abs, yet with a pale, sweet face like a rain-soaked rose.

**

While she is in the hospital, he stays by her bedside, feeds her medicine, and cooks for her. He's perfectly obedient in front of Park Yun, but beats up her ex in private like a mad dog.

"Sis, where should I put this?"

She stares at the jar of yuzu marmalade in his hand, and her mind goes blank.

It was her favorite flavor as a girl.

Because Zhou Zhiqing's brother once said, "Yuzu has the best scent."

And she had been secretly in love with his brother for five whole years.

Now the younger brother has placed those memories back in her hands, and offered himself along with them.

**

After leaving the hospital, she decides to stop being a good little worker bee, a cog chosen by the system. She picks up her childhood hobby of drawing comics, not expecting to get famous, just hoping to have fun.

Then one day, a wildly popular comic artist with the ID "West Three" approaches her and asks her to be his assistant.

The assignments he gives her are strange:

Draw the cold-drink shop she used to visit as a child.

Draw the pool where she took her last dip during swimming class in her senior year of high school...

After the ninth assignment, she finally begins to remember.

She had never told anyone about these memories.

They belonged only to the two of them.

**

Later, they kiss in the shadows. She grips his collar, and beside her ear, he murmurs "Sis" again and again in a husky voice.

She says, "I used to like your brother."

He bites her shoulder, his voice almost swallowed by his throat. "So who do you like now?"

**

You are the illness I can't escape, and the life I can't give up.

You say I'm like a dog, but you're the only one I'm willing to wag my tail for.

Check out my upcoming novel, "50% Affection"!

*

Wen Qiao discovers she's been cheated on right before her wedding.

A month later, her scumbag ex and his mistress get married and announce that she's pregnant.

Heartbroken, she goes to Dali alone to heal and happens upon a half-baked relationship counselor.

The counselor tells her, "When you're fifty percent interested in someone, you can try starting a new relationship. Otherwise, you'll never get over your heartbreak."

Desperate for a cure, she believes it and puts the advice into practice.

But instead of starting a relationship, she simply throws herself at the man when she's only fifty percent interested in him.

She corners him against a wall and leaves a tipsy strawberry mark on him.

After holding back for a while, he launches a fierce counterattack...

*

Wen Qiao returns to Shanghai, gets promoted and a raise, starts a successful business, and has a baby. Everyone is surprised. Who on earth is the child's father?

A test-tube baby? Did she borrow someone's... you know, to have a child?

That's pretty wild!

Wen Qiao doesn't care. She posts a picture of her beloved daughter and a Maserati on her social media.

Caption: The car my daughter picked. It's a little pink.

The haters fall silent. Her little girl is just too, too, too adorable!

Then, when the child is three, she finally asks the question:

"Mom, where's my dad?"

Wen Qiao thinks: If fifty percent interest is enough to be together, then surely it should be enough to get married?

After all, I can live without a man, but my child should at least have a chance at having a dad.

*

Mining mogul Wu Ye has no interest in women and couldn't care less about the blind dates his father arranges.

Only at night does he think back to the woman he once met by chance.

Only his assistant knows that Wu Ye has been searching for that woman for four years.

Without a trace.

At a charity gala, Wu Ye is about to leave when a woman in a pale moon-white dress walks over, holding the hand of a little girl in pink.

"Sweetie, this is your daddy."

Wu Ye is stunned to the core.

*

"Have you heard? Wu Ye of Tianlan Mining got married on a whim, and his new wife has a daughter."

"Seriously? Wu Ye never even looked at women before. He actually married a divorcee?"

"She isn't even divorced. Nobody knows who the kid's father is..."

"I heard she's the owner of a modeling agency. So Wu Ye likes powerful women?"

Three days after meeting again, they got their marriage licenses.

This time, Wu Ye corners Wen Qiao against the wall. As the night closes in, he gently bites her ear.

Wen Qiao pushes him away. "Know your place. You're the child's father, not my man."

Wu Ye turns around. This time, he's going to win one hundred percent of Wen Qiao.

Blurb dated February 15, 2023

Upcoming novel, "The System Forces Me to Go on Nine Blind Dates [The Nineties]":

Zhu Lele transmigrates into a period novel and becomes the younger sister of the fake and real heiresses, the third daughter of Director Zhu.

The eldest sister is the kind-hearted real heiress, and the second sister is the villainous fake heiress. According to the original novel, they'll fight for eight hundred rounds.

Zhu Lele: Hmph. What does that have to do with me? I won't interfere. The villains will get taken out by the plot. I'll just sit back and enjoy the show.

But then the plot comes for her. Thanks to the fake heiress causing trouble, her father arranges a blind date for her, and she has to get married within a year.

Zhu Lele: What blind date? It's the nineties! I'm going to start a business and get rich! I'll break free from my family! You all can fight as much as you like.

"Ding-dong! The blind date System is now online. Failure to install it will trigger self-destruction! Three, two..."

"Install, install! What's with the self-destruction threat? Is it finally my turn to get a golden finger?"

Excited.jpg

System: Hello, Host. Welcome to the blind date System. Your mission is to go on nine blind dates and make all nine male candidates fall in love with you!

Every successful blind date will refresh the world of this book!

Zhu Lele: What kind of ridiculous System is this? What kind of golden finger is this?

System: Host, every successful blind date will increase your luck. After nine dates, you will be the chosen one of this world, and all your other wishes can come true!

Zhu Lele thinks it over and agrees to the System's terms.

First blind date: a cold and aloof aerospace researcher.

Zhu Lele: Not bad, but why does he seem a little distant?

System: Host, you can choose items such as [Mind Reading], [Romantic Encounter], and [Weathering a Crisis Together]...

Zhu Lele: Only children pick one. I'm an adult, so I'll use them all!

System: ...

After their third meeting, the man corners her on a street corner. "Want to date? The kind where we're dating with marriage in mind."

Just as Zhu Lele thinks her first blind date has succeeded, the System says in a ghostly voice:

Host, there's more. After each male candidate falls in love with you, you have to reject him and make him willingly let you go.

Zhu Lele: W-wait, is this a heartbreaker System?

System: No, it's a White Moonlight System. These nine male candidates will see you as their white moonlight, which will inspire them to reach their potential, become outstanding people in their fields, and help develop Huaguo!

Zhu Lele: It's wholesome, but also kind of weird. I'm not sure. Let me think about it.

Second blind date: a spoiled rich kid from the compound who hates studying and loves fighting.

Zhu Lele: This one seems hard to handle. Are there any other items I can use?

System: This male candidate is immune to ordinary items. There's only one item you can use: [Delicate and Pitiful Little White Flower]. Would you like to use it?

Zhu Lele: Is there any other way if I don't use it? Use it, use it, use it!

Two months later, the man weeps at Zhu Lele's hospital bed. "It's all my fault, Lele. I'll never fight again. I'll enlist right now. Let's date properly, okay?"

Zhu Lele thinks: Don't fall for me. It won't end well...

Third blind date

Fourth blind date

Ninth blind date

System: Host, the ninth male candidate is immune to all items. You'll have to rely on yourself~~

Zhu Lele: ...

One year later, at the wedding.

Zhu Lele: I'm sorry. I only wanted your money. I don't love you at all! I can't hold you back!

She runs in her wedding dress, asking the System as she goes:

How about it, System? Am I the chosen one now?

System: No. He hasn't willingly let you go.

Zhu Lele: Help!

The man catches up with Zhu Lele on a bridge. "What do you want? If you want this world, I'll take it for you."

Seeing him in a sharp suit, so handsome he could take your breath away, Zhu Lele's heart skips a beat.

Oh no. I've caught feelings.

* A period novel set against the sweeping backdrop of the nineties

* Think of it as nine separate arcs, each with a male lead, though in essence they're all the same person

* Every successful blind date refreshes the transmigrated book world and introduces a new blind date

* The heroine is probably the person who lights up the male lead's life, a dazzling white moonlight he'd be willing to change for

* Also titled "After Meeting Their White Moonlight, the Male Leads Work Hard to Improve Themselves"

* Each male lead is the same person, with a different outward personality

Upcoming novel, "Fortune-Telling at a Street Stall, Viral Livestream":

A scheming heavenly master dominates the beginner village x a gorgeous male heartthrob uncovers his mysterious past

*

Poor college student Bai Shichu goes home for summer vacation. When she returns, she's inherited a Taoist temple.

Her roommates are shocked. Is stingy, frugal Bai Shichu about to get rich? It's a whole Taoist temple!

That is, until they see photos of the place: dilapidated, overgrown with weeds, and in an isolated mountain village with neither a subway nor a road.

Everyone tries to put a positive spin on it. "At least she got it for free. It might be nice to go there to escape the summer heat."

Bai Shichu thinks to herself: It wasn't free. I'm bound to a fortune-telling System that makes me find someone destined to meet me every day, or the temple will take my life!

*

Bai Shichu has been gifted since childhood and is a master fortune-teller. At eleven, she was already a heavenly master everyone revered.

But unfortunately, when she is twenty-one, her tribulation goes wrong and she transmigrates into a book, arriving in a world with scarce spiritual energy where few people cultivate.

In this novel, she's the real heiress who was left to fend for herself until her birth parents find her at eighteen.

Before that, she was adopted by an old Taoist priest. Now that he has passed away, he has left Bai Shichu a Taoist temple... and the temple can actually talk!

*

The moment Bai Shichu enters the temple, she is bound to the fortune-telling System. The temple itself was once a genius heavenly master in this world, but for some reason he was trapped in this shabby little temple. By this age of spiritual decline, he has forgotten his own name.

The temple's true form, dressed in white with long hair held by a wooden hairpin and redness at the corners of his eyes: I've finally waited for someone...

The System was born because of him, and he protects it. The System's KPI requires Bai Shichu to tell fortunes at a street stall every day until she finds ninety-nine people destined to meet her.

*

A fortune-telling livestream suddenly appears on Pegasus Live, a platform full of streamers.

Netizens sneer: Another fraud peddling superstition. I'll expose her! So what if she's pretty? No scams allowed!

An hour later: Mom asked me why I was watching the livestream on my knees.

"The streamer predicted my husband was cheating on me with a man. I went home and caught them in the act! She was dead on!"

"The streamer predicted I wasn't my mom's biological child. I went home and asked, and it was actually true!"

"The streamer took one look at me and knew how much money was in my account! An ordinary person could never guess that I don't have a single penny in there! She's insanely accurate!"

Bai Shichu goes viral overnight. How long would it take to find ninety-nine people destined to meet her by fortune-telling at a street stall? She has to livestream!

The shabby little Taoist temple: I see your tips are pouring in, but you haven't found many destined visitors...

Bai Shichu: Don't worry. We'll build this up and make it big. We won't have to go looking for destined visitors. They'll come to us!

Theme: Improve yourself and build a happy, fulfilling life.