Soft Ears

● Side couple from Expired Crush: Shen Ziyi × Yu Zhijing

The story is complete! There's a giveaway. Thank you all for your support~

[Next up: The Third Year of Marriage / Homeward Bound. Visit my author page to add them to your reading list~ The blurb for The Third Year of Marriage is at the end.]

This story: devoted and adorable × aloof and scheming / reunion after a long separation / happy ending

*

Shen Ziyi is a very patient person.

When he tutors Yu Zhijing in math, he explains the same problem three times if she gets it wrong three times. Yu Zhijing gets annoyed, tosses down her pen, and puts on a fierce act. "You can stop pretending. You're just trying to get on my mom's good side, right? I'll put in a good word for you."

He ignores her, lightly taps the page with his long fingers, and says softly, "Try it again."

Yu Zhijing can barely keep it together.

But sometimes he isn't quite so patient.

When she calls him, he doesn't say much, but he listens very carefully.

If they talk until midnight, he puts on a stern voice and says, "Yu Zhijing, you should go to bed."

If she occasionally gets unreasonable, his voice drops even lower. "That's enough."

Hanging up is easy, but giving up her feelings for him seems a little harder.

The day before Yu Zhijing goes abroad, she attends Shen Ziyi's graduation ceremony.

She gives him a bouquet of endless summer hydrangeas, wishes him a bright future, and finally asks, "Aren't you going to ask me to stay?"

Shen Ziyi looks at her tenderly, but his words are cold. "No. But I can see you off."

*

They meet again seven years later.

Yu Zhijing is weary, while his patience has returned. He keeps appearing in her line of sight, using work as an excuse.

She can't avoid him, so she asks, "Didn't you say you wouldn't ask me to stay?"

Shen Ziyi says, "Back then, I couldn't make you stay."

"What if I follow you now? Would that be all right?"

Yu Zhijing smiles mockingly. "I'll think about it."

It is only an excuse.

Much later, Yu Zhijing sees an "endless summer" tattoo on Shen Ziyi's abdomen and finally learns that he had wanted to stay by her side for a long time.

His patience is beyond anything she could have imagined.

// Loving you is like coming upon an endless summer

Content warnings [Please note]:

Neither lead is perfect. This is not a groveling story, this is not a groveling story! See the author's note in Chapter 2 for details.

Four-year age gap, healing romance, reunion after a long separation.

The story alternates between the city and campus.

Blurb for the upcoming marriage-first, love-later story The Third Year of Marriage. Please add it to your reading list~~

Blurb to be revised. Here's a preview for now. If it sounds interesting, please add it to your reading list~~

// Versatile DIY blogger × powerful heir to a wealthy family / marriage first, love later / secret crush becomes mutual / happy ending

* In the third year of their marriage, she finally gets to experience being newlyweds.

Song Zhixia × Jin Yugui

After two years of marriage, Song Zhixia can still count on her fingers how many times she's seen Jin Yugui.

On the day after their second wedding anniversary, she does see a trending post: "Jin Group's heir enters a hotel late at night with a woman."

The Jin Group's PR team nearly burns out their CPUs trying to find the best way to respond to the fake scandal.

Then a trending post titled "Jin Yugui's Wife Responds to Scandal" takes Weibo by storm.

The woman in the video wears sunglasses and a scarf. She asks the reporters, "Have you heard the phrase 'still newlyweds'?"

Reporter: "Huh?"

Song Zhixia tilts her head. "Yugui and I were just celebrating our anniversary. I didn't realize everyone was so interested."

Soon after, the hashtag "When you're with the right person, every day feels like your honeymoon" starts trending.

-

The PR crisis the company couldn't solve is casually handled by Song Zhixia.

That night, Jin Yugui puts off a meeting and hurries back to the villa, wanting to see his "newlywed" wife.

As soon as he opens the door, he hears Song Zhixia's phone on speaker. A female friend asks, "You and Jin Yugui are still newlyweds? Give me a break."

Song Zhixia says, "I was just helping out."

"But how am I this good? I fixed it just like that! If I were him, I'd at least come home today and wait on my wife, and work even harder to earn money so I could take good care of her."

She turns around. Jin Yugui smiles at her politely.

Jin Yugui says, "I'll head back to the office today and work hard to make money."

He pauses. "To take care of my wife."

Before leaving, he adds, "Oh, right. About waiting on my wife..."

"I'll owe you that one for now."

Song Zhixia: "..."

-

Song Zhixia thinks her marriage to Jin Yugui is as insubstantial as the agreement they signed.

She never imagined that a man who makes ruthless decisions in the business world would one day rush home, road-weary and beneath a starry sky, just to ask her in a low, slightly threatening voice, "I've already transferred your allowance. When are you going to keep your promise?"

Song Zhixia blinks. "What promise? I don't remember making one."

The man leans down, his warm breath falling against her neck. He says helplessly, "You said you liked me, Zhixia."

Song Zhixia never imagined this, either.

In the third year of their marriage, she finally gets to experience being newlyweds.

Theme: Be patient as you wait, and grow into your best self.