Romantic Paradox

Upcoming story, Old Snow Is Hard to Melt. Please add it to your favorites! Characters: [Lame, gloomy taxi driver x obsessive, booze-loving, washed-up model]

This story: [Romantic, down-on-her-luck heiress and sculptor x lonely, aloof, elegant actress]

[A clear-eyed giver of love x an indifferent woman who loves neither herself nor anyone else]

[1]

During her years studying abroad, Fu Tingli fell in love with road trips.

On a planned trip along California's Highway One, a barefoot woman ran into the road and stopped her car, startling the birds flying past.

The woman had shining black hair and deep-set eyes.

Even her strands seemed soaked in scorching golden sunlight. One glance shattered Fu Tingli's life into pieces. The woman said calmly,

"Please, drive me to find someone."

Over the course of their three-day, three-night journey, they shared their sorrows and delusions, drank ice-cold soda in the breeze beneath a red sunset, and kissed recklessly in the open car.

The woman pressed Fu Tingli's hand to the flying-bird tattoo on her waist, then let out a sigh.

When the trip was over, Fu Tingli sculpted the bird on the woman's waist. But some details were missing, and the piece remained incomplete.

[2]

After her family went bankrupt, Fu Tingli returned to China in disgrace and sold the car that had carried her and the bird through the sunset for a good price.

Then, just like that, she saw a huge screen outside a shopping mall.

The woman on it had elegant, affectionate eyes and looked both alluring and sexy.

She was Kong Liyuan, a famous actress in China.

And the woman who owned the flying-bird sculpture that Fu Tingli had never finished.

A high school classmate found Fu Tingli an opportunity to work as a sculpture consultant on a new film project and serve as the hand double for the sculptor heroine.

The film's leading lady happened to be Kong Liyuan.

Fu Tingli was momentarily stunned, then greeted her politely. "Ms. Kong."

Kong Liyuan looked up and took her ice-cold hand. "Ms. Fu, your hand is freezing."

That day, everyone saw Kong Liyuan give a pair of cashmere gloves to the film's sculpture consultant. But no one knew that the two of them had once shared an old summer dream in California.

Much later, Fu Tingli finally realized that Kong Liyuan still remembered how she'd said in California that she was especially afraid of the cold.

[3]

When the film project wrapped, Fu Tingli returned to her cheap, damp rental.

Kong Liyuan, reeking of alcohol, leaned against her doorway and once again pressed Fu Tingli's hand to the delicate remnant of the bird tattoo on her waist. Her breath came unevenly.

"What about your sculpture? Aren't you going to finish it?"

[Reader's Guide]

1. The title and blurb may change before the story begins.

2. This blurb was written on 2022/05/29 and archived with a screenshot on Weibo. Copyright infringement will be pursued.

3. The characters aren't based on real people. Please don't associate them with real-life celebrities. To protect the reading experience of most readers, comments mentioning celebrities will be deleted.

4. The two heroines are four years apart in age. They switch roles, so neither one is more often the top.

Upcoming story: Red Lips and Wisdom Teeth (not this story). Blurb:

Kuang Lai had been jealous of Xu Wentang since childhood.

As Kuang Lai's grandma put it, Xu Wentang's family was so rich they might have oil hidden in their backyard. They lived in a manor with iron gates, Xu Wentang's mother looked like a movie star, and Xu Wentang herself looked like one too.

But Kuang Lai's family had nothing. They lived in a concrete house whose foundations had only been laid a few years earlier. Kuang Lai's mother was a crazy woman who abandoned her daughter and ran off. Kuang Lai herself was a little lunatic, always acting wild and never stopping for a moment.

But her grandma and Xu Wentang's grandma were good friends.

So Kuang Lai had no choice but to play with Xu Wentang growing up.

-

When she was three, Kuang Lai broke a bowl while fooling around. She not only cut her own face and left it covered in blood, but also scarred six-year-old Xu Wentang's palm.

When she was nine, the adults joked that if Xu Wentang couldn't find a husband when she grew up, it would be Kuang Lai's fault. Kuang Lai, indignant, planted her hands on her hips and said, "She doesn't even want to get married! Worst case, she can marry me!"

Beside her, Xu Wentang tugged at the white dress Kuang Lai had almost rolled into the mud, then said primly, "Wife, your dress needs washing."

At fifteen, Kuang Lai boldly volunteered to deliver a love letter to the older girl her classmate had a crush on. The girl was so frightened that she sought advice from her best friend.

Her best friend, Xu Wentang, tossed the letter into the trash, tapped Kuang Lai on the head without a hint of politeness, and said, "Kuang Lai, no dating before you're an adult."

At eighteen, Kuang Lai was still jealous of Xu Wentang.

Because at twenty-one, Xu Wentang was gorgeous, attracting admirers left and right, and so beautiful it was almost unbearable.

At twenty-eight, after her dream had fallen apart, Kuang Lai returned to her hometown in disgrace. On the very first day, she ran into Xu Wentang.

Seeing her old nemesis, Kuang Lai turned and ran.

But it wasn't long before Xu Wentang showed up at her home to stop her. The woman who usually acted docile in front of their elders was furious enough to grit her teeth.

"Who was it that pinned me inside a cabinet and kissed me in secret on the night I came of age?"

The woman leaned in close and tugged at Kuang Lai's flushed ear. "Then you ran off right after kissing me, and stayed away for ten years."

"Kuang Lai, what do you really think of me?"

-

Kuang Lai had always been jealous of Xu Wentang.

Because at twenty-one, Xu Wentang was very rich. She had everything eighteen-year-old Kuang Lai could never have, including Kuang Lai's love.

Theme: Good love can teach us to embrace ourselves more fully