The Wild Wind Knows Me [Foster Care]

Updated daily at 9 a.m. Paragraph comments are open, come say hi! Upcoming foster-family story, "Save Me Some Sweetness." Find it in my profile:

Shu Li had lived a proper, unremarkable life for fifteen years. Then, during the year she was fostered by the Cheng family in the capital, she did two out-of-character things.

First, as a fan, she fell for an untouchable male celebrity;

Second, as a foster child, she fell for the "older brother" in her foster family.

They were the same person. His name was Cheng Fengzhi. Back then, he wasn't famous yet. When she fainted during military training, he bought out the milk tea shop on the whole street to bribe her into keeping quiet. And on a deep summer night, he ran hand in hand with her.

He taught her that "you should spend your future on what you love," but the year he became famous, he drew a clear line between them himself:

"You're still young. You'll meet someone better."

From then on, the moon was no longer gazed upon by only one evening primrose.

-

Later, in a torrential downpour in Jiangcheng, Shu Li brought her childhood friend into the building's entrance hall.

Headlights cut through the curtain of rain. Cheng Fengzhi got out of the car, his shirt soaked through and the crescent-shaped scar at his collarbone faintly visible. He gripped the hand holding her umbrella so tightly he almost snapped the red cord on her jade pendant:

"Tell him to leave."

"Brother." Shu Li lifted her eyes slightly and twirled the umbrella handle with her fingertips. "Does an adult taking in a friend for the night break your rules?"

The last thread of his restraint snapped. He leaned toward her, pressing a hand to the back of her neck and pulling her close:

"Rules?"

"Go upstairs, or come with me. You choose."

-

[I don't know how to describe this conflicted feeling. You're a piece of jade I treasured against my chest. I finally warmed you, only for you to be taken away and put on display for the whole world. You deserve to be seen, but I'm afraid that beneath the spotlight, you won't need me anymore. I'm afraid you'll become famous, and even more afraid you'll become too famous.]

On the first day she met Cheng Fengzhi, Shu Li wrote in her diary: "When the orange candy burst in my mouth, I tasted the Milky Way in summer."

Later, an advertisement for the orange candy endorsed by top-tier star Cheng Fengzhi blanketed the subway stations of the capital. He posted a screenshot of that diary entry online: [@Ms.Pear The Milky Way is in your eyes when you look at me.]

Reader's guide: 1. Foster-family story with a six-year age gap, from school to adulthood. Both leads are each other's first and only love.

2. No real-life inspirations! Little entertainment-industry content. The male lead isn't an idol, so he can date.

3. Slow-burn coming-of-age story, three parts angst to seven parts sweetness, happy ending.

For my next foster-family story, I'm setting up a childhood-friends sweet romance. Both leads are each other's first and only love, happy ending.

The night before five-year-old Jiang Yiluo was due to start preschool, she made an earth-shattering discovery!

Her household registration booklet and that of her favorite brother, Si Yan, weren't the same!

She wasn't part of the Lu family!

Jiang Yiluo couldn't accept it. That very night, she took a sheet of paper and some colored pencils, drew a "household registration page" herself, and tucked it into the Lu family's booklet, right next to Lu Siyan's name.

The next day, Mrs. Lu found the "forged document" while enrolling her, and laughingly took it out. Little Jiang Yiluo cried all the way home. Nine-year-old Lu Siyan comforted her:

"Don't cry, Luoluo. I'll keep this paper safe for you."

"When you're grown up, we'll ask Mom about making it official."

Years later, one afternoon in the Lu family's study, the cool and refined man slipped his arms around her waist from behind and smoothed out the yellowed drawing. His voice was low:

"Jiang Yiluo, when you were five, you said you wanted to be registered as part of my Lu family."

"Does that still stand?"

-

When they were in elementary school, Jiang Yiluo was so clingy that Lu Siyan made three rules for her:

1. You can't cry for more than thirty minutes.

2. You can't crawl into my bed.

3. You can't come looking for me in my classroom.

After they married, Mrs. Lu made three rules for Lu Siyan:

1. You can't stay out socializing past eleven at night.

2. You can't do it more than three times a day.

3. Tell me you love me once in the morning and once at night.

A lively, affectionate girl x a man who knows how to comfort her and give in

Theme: "You're wonderful. Lots of people will like you." I actually hid half of that sentence. The rest is: "And Shu Li was the first to like superstar Cheng Fengzhi."