Mutual pining / Maybe a happy ending, maybe a tragic one. I haven't decided yet
Wen Xiangzhu never expected that taking up swordsmanship on a whim would bring her face-to-face with Tao Wenzhou again.
He's the instructor for her group class, and he gives her special treatment unlike anyone else: keeping her after class for extra practice, and even showing up beneath her apartment in the middle of the night to return the sword she'd left behind.
Her friends are amazed. "Teacher Tao is into Wen Xiangzhu."
Wen Xiangzhu hurriedly waves them off. "No, we're high school classmates."
She can't understand why, after seven years, he still holds a grudge over her taking the wrong person's hand at their graduation party.
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Tao Wenzhou seeing Wen Xiangzhu again is pure coincidence. He has just returned from leave in the military when his mother urges him to fill in for his sick uncle and teach at a martial arts school.
Wen Xiangzhu is the most troublesome student in the group. She comes and goes as she pleases, just like she did back in school. It's hard not to pay her extra attention.
When his leave ends, he returns to his unit, and the heartless girl disappears without a word.
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That day by the sea, Tao Wenzhou asks Wen Xiangzhu, "Do I still have a chance?"
Wen Xiangzhu smiles and points to the sunset over the water. "I finally saw the sea I've always wanted to see, and met the person I like, but the timing was wrong. The sun is about to set."
One piece was missing from the jigsaw puzzle Tao Wenzhou left behind in his school days. Later, Wen Xiangzhu filled it in.
On the back of the puzzle was a line of writing: "W, at seventeen, you were so wonderful. So wonderful that you could only ever be a dream of mine."
Blurb dated June 1, 2026
Theme: From now on, I'll never find that feeling of a heart being moved again
