Open a Crack in the Window

Campus redemption / happy ending

Next book: Stealing Summer. Tap to save it to your collection~

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Duan Xuan was a notorious troublemaker. Dai Yishu first saw him not long after transferring to Xicheng No. 1 High School. She was in the stairwell of her rented apartment, where the light fell in shadowy patches. He leaned lazily against the wall, tall and slouching, but his features were sharply handsome. His dark eyes made him seem striking and aloof.

With a shameful thought she couldn't let see the light of day, Yishu didn't feel that kind of attraction to Duan Xuan, yet she went to great lengths to get close to him again and again. Back then, everyone knew that Duan Xuan, a guy who had no room in his heart for any girl, would never let her get close.

Duan Xuan thought so too. That's why that scene happened.

During the first torrential rain of late summer in 2015, he gripped Dai Yishu's chin hard enough to leave a red mark, his tone cruel and vile.

--

But no one could have imagined what would come later.

In the pounding rain, Duan Xuan lowered his eyes and glanced at Yishu's retreating figure. He viciously pressed the burning cigarette butt into his palm. His heart burned with pain, but he didn't even furrow his brow.

The title is taken from the song "Open a Crack in the Window" by Li Haojia.

Next: Stealing Summer

Seven-year age gap / mutual pining comes true / happy ending

The summer Lin Tingwu turned fourteen was a rare one. The weather bureau said it would be many years before a summer like it came again.

At the school anniversary, there was also a rare man standing on the stage.

The principal gripped the microphone, visibly moved. "Liang Yan, the top scorer in the 2013 college entrance exam. It took me quite an effort to get him back here today."

Tingwu was studying her physics notes with her head lowered. When she looked up, she saw the man the principal was praising.

She only glanced at him once, but from then on, his name, Liang Yan, appeared thousands of times in her books and notes.

-

Unfortunately, Liang Yan was one person on stage and another off it. He was the very picture of an outstanding student on stage, but behind the scenes he was wild, carefree, and unruly.

Tingwu had a crush on him for two years. In her second year of high school, a major family upheaval sent her to stay at Liang Yan's home at her cousin's request, where she could take refuge and prepare for the college entrance exams.

She did everything she could to hide her sensitive, fragile feelings. Liang Yan treated her as a friend's little sister, distant and reserved, yet considerate in every way.

They lived in the same villa, just one floor apart, but Tingwu always felt that Liang Yan was a thousand miles away.

-

But later, at the motorcycle race that year, Liang Yan won the championship. Tingwu stood beside him, camera in hand, and took a picture of the man who would forever remain so spirited and brilliant in her life.

But that very night, at a party, a friend asked who the girl always following Liang Yan was. Tingwu heard Liang Yan's lazy, flippant voice with her own ears: "Who else? A friend's little sister. I'm looking after her."

His rowdy friends, thinking Tingwu wasn't there, couldn't resist asking, "Just a little sister? Liang Yan, you even brought her to the motorcycle race. Don't tell me you haven't developed feelings for her at all."

Standing outside the door, Tingwu didn't know whether a thunderstorm or a sky full of hope awaited her.

Then Liang Yan's even more languid voice drifted over: "Any friend's little sister who gets sent my way, I'll bring to the motorcycle race. It's called taking responsibility, "

Tingwu turned and left before he could finish. In the sudden downpour, her eyes reddened. For the first time, she left Liang Yan's villa on a whim and moved into the school dormitory.

-

Later, Tingwu got into a top university and reunited with Liang Yan at a party.

To her surprise, the man stopped her in the hallway, mistaking the guy beside her for her boyfriend.

He was dead drunk. Bending down, he breathed heavily against her ear, his thin lips seeming to brush its tip. He was as unrestrained as he had been years ago, except that this time his feelings were utterly sincere.

"I've spoiled you rotten. You can't even pick a boyfriend."

The man curved his eyes slightly and grabbed her wrist. "Someone like him can be your boyfriend?"

Tingwu pressed her lips together, her eyes reddening again because of him.

The next second, Liang Yan pulled her wrist against his chest and leaned down to gaze at her, as if he wanted to pull her into his body. His voice was as gentle and soothing as it had been when she failed an exam all those years ago. "Then take a good look at me, Wu. How about it? I want to be your boyfriend too."

Only one person had ever called her Wu. From the time she was fourteen to the time she was twenty, Lin Tingwu seemed to have been trapped in that summer when she was fourteen, never seeing the light of day, until Liang Yan appeared before her again.

Only then did she seem to finally leave that summer behind.

2022.9.25

Theme: Study hard