The Secret in "Frankly Speaking"

[Please do not repost this story on any other platform. Violators will be held accountable!] My new story next door, Neon Lights and Sweet Fruit, is now available.

A sunny, upright golden boy vs. a gentle, reserved beauty. If you’re interested, sweeties, take a look at the blurb before deciding whether to dive in. ovo

Weibo: Meizhi Jianjiu. Come find me and say hi! =v=

[This story has undergone extensive revisions. Stolen copies are incomplete, so please support the official version.]

Both leads are each other’s first love / School setting in the first half / Urban setting in the second half / Secret crush becomes mutual / A fake playboy reforms / Reunited after years apart.‖ If any of these tropes are a dealbreaker, feel free to click away.

T_T You can’t please everyone. If you’ve just started reading, or are only partway through and aren’t enjoying it, please cut your losses in time. I’m begging you! qvq

[Blurb]

A sensitive, reserved, resilient girl vs. a rebellious, roguish golden boy.

Second semester of sophomore year. Xu Zhiyi secretly fell for someone without Professor Ruan knowing.

Beneath a vast canopy of yellow-green camphor leaves.

The boy wore a black baseball cap, barely covering the strands of hair at his temples.

His features beneath the brim were sharply defined, with a high brow and slightly upturned outer corners of his eyes. His air fell somewhere between good student and bad student.

Xu Zhiyi thought he leaned more toward... bad student.

He stood straight against the light, wearing the uniform jacket of Nanhigh loosely over his shoulders. The collar of his white shirt was open just enough to reveal part of his long, pale neck.

The boy lowered his long lashes and glanced at her, then curled his lips into a smile.

“Why are you crying? Whatever they did to you, do it right back.”

When she said nothing, the boy’s rich, cool voice drifted over on the sharp spring breeze, pleasant and captivating, with a hint of mockery.

“Don’t get it? Then I’ll teach you.”

/

After that day, the girl’s castle was as solid as stone, yet it could still be breached with ease. The feelings quietly taking root left Xu Zhiyi at a loss, while filling her with a secret, sweet joy.

Day after day, the happiness in Xu Zhiyi’s heart became like a tornado sweeping through. In its wake, her youth was thrown into utter chaos.

Until

On the night after the college entrance exams, school beauty Wen Wanxin organized a graduation party.

Inside a karaoke room awash in booze and neon lights, a group of people, carried away by their drinking game, cheered and clamored: “Brother Yi, a bet’s a bet! Pick one: a kiss or making it official. Don’t tell us you can’t take it!”

Amid the crowd’s ill-intentioned cheers, the boy sat in the dim light and faintly curled his lips. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he gave an emotionless snort, leaned over to stub out his cigarette, then spoke carelessly: “All right...”

Xu Zhiyi didn’t go that night, but she saw the post on his Moments.

And so, her 420-day secret crush came to a sorrowful end.

-

One afternoon, after they had reunited, cicadas chirred in the treetops, just like the boy’s languid, carefree voice from behind her in their senior year.

“Teacher, this one’s wrong. EF should be extended.”

The wind chimes outside the eaves rang suddenly. The unruly, roguishly handsome boy in her memories had transformed into a hot new name in the business world.

Only the audacious, flirtatious look in his eyes remained unchanged.

He blocked her beside a vintage barstool as if no one else existed. In the narrow space, the air was cloyingly warm, and his faint cologne seemed ready to drown her in his embrace.

Xu Zhiyi couldn’t see his expression. She only heard him lean close to her ear, his voice hoarse, the corners of his eyes tinged with color as he breathed each word against her ear.

“You think I write love letters to just anyone, huh?”

A few reading tips:

+ The girlfriend mentioned in the blurb doesn’t exist. The “making it official” part is a misunderstanding, and it will be explained.

+ My fictional liberties are extensive, and all the professional knowledge in the story comes from Baidu. Please forgive me, sweeties.

+ Hope you enjoy reading. If it’s not your thing, please cut your losses in time. [Very important!]

Coming soon: Crimson Haze, a school-life healing story. Please add it to your list! =v=

1. During winter break in her senior year, Wen Yin unexpectedly fell for a “man.”

Their first meeting beneath the neon lights:

Wen Yin wore a mask and held a crystal glass specially made by the quiet bar as she poured the “man” a drink.

Their eyes met by chance, and Wen Yin caught the clean, sharp line of his jaw.

At a fleeting glance, she saw the man’s face clearly.

The “man” had a refined, cool, ascetic face, like a lofty flower growing atop an iceberg: noble and elegant, yet detached from the world.

2.

Their second encounter beneath brilliant wall lamps:

Wen Yin wore a mask and a short skirt with embroidered trim, part of the quiet bar’s uniform, as she led him the way.

Out of the corner of her eye, the “man” wore a long black trench coat. Its hem swayed gracefully, revealing a pair of polished, expensive black leather shoes, spotless, just like Wen Yin’s impression of him. He seemed like a cool, ascetic monk by an oil lamp, beyond the reach of anything earthly.

The “man” was much taller than Wen Yin. Standing beside him, she could smell the soothing, intoxicating fragrance of sandalwood drifting from him.

In a daze, Wen Yin’s young heart began to pound, rising and falling with the beat of the music in the quiet bar.

After work that night, beneath the brilliant neon of the late-night city, the girl’s fluttering skirt carried her forward with reckless courage.

At the entrance to the quiet bar, beneath its sign glowing with blue light and mist, she stopped the tall, graceful “man,” breathless. With great care, she held out a note embroidered with magnolia blossoms, bearing the secrets of a girl’s heart, and offered it to his chest.

Time stood still for more than ten seconds. Then Wen Yin heard a voice like flowing water from high mountains:

“I’m sorry.”

The courage Wen Yin had struggled to summon ended in humiliation. Her young heart hurt as if it were being unraveled, so she failed to notice the faintly clear, cool quality in the man’s low, gentle voice.

It was the unmistakable pitch of a young boy’s voice.

3.

*The start of the second semester of senior year.

A boy in a neat school uniform stood at the front of the classroom, introducing himself with effortless ease.

His handsome, refined features and lazy, mellow voice set the girls whispering among themselves.

Wen Yin was copying down essay material. Following her deskmate’s gaze, she looked up.

The confusion and panic in the girl’s small almond-shaped eyes made her look like a little white rabbit trying to flee.

Wen Yin never imagined that the person she had handed a love letter to in the middle of the night would be a transfer student she had never met before.

Later, she learned his name.

Yu Yao.

[Clouds gather in splendor as dawn shines bright; jade feathers brush the flowering branches.]

‖I fell in love with you beneath the neon lights‖ Both leads are each other’s first love‖ Poetry quoted from famous works

Theme: Study hard and get into the university of your dreams.