Jade

Childhood friends / raising a child / age gap / younger woman

Lin Fei was nine when her mother brought home a young woman seven years older than her, nicknamed Cuicui. Cuicui had a round face, a pointed chin, phoenix eyes, and skin as white as tofu, as if she’d spent all winter indoors.

“What kind of stupid name is that? It’s so tacky!”

Covered in mud and smelling sour, Lin Fei stood upstairs and kicked a slipper at her. Cuicui caught it easily, her eyes curving into crescents as she smiled sweetly.

At thirteen, Lin Fei got into a fight with a boy at school. Her head was covered in blood, and she didn’t dare go home. Cuicui took her by the hand to get stitches at the hospital, then held her that night and soothed her like a good little baby. Lin Fei lay awake, watching her all night.

At eighteen, Lin Fei found out Cuicui was getting married. She stormed the wedding and shouted in front of Cuicui’s in-laws, “Liu Cuicui has been part of our family for ages! We’ve already done everything together! All of you, get lost!”

Cuicui had no choice but to go home with her. Eyes red, she asked why Lin Fei had made up such nonsense. Lin Fei sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, looking smug as she shook her head. “I didn’t make it up.”

Cuicui clearly remembered that they’d never done anything like that.

Ill-tempered, sharp-tongued little lion x gentle, quiet young aunt

Note: There is no romance or intimacy before adulthood. They are in a live-in arrangement.

“Her brows are light, her rouge deep, her dark hair gathered in soft waves. Little mandarin ducks and golden kingfishers, just as one would wish.” From “Qing Quan Zi: Dai Bao Hong Shen”

Coming soon: “Fishing for the Moon”

Blurb: After years apart, Jiang Yin imagined countless times what it would be like to see Kun Da again. Every time, it was the tired old face-slapping trope of a poor boy making it big and humiliating his ex.

Their reunion came without warning. Jiang Yin got up early to buy soy milk and found Kun Da sitting on her doormat, hugging her knees and dressed in rags.

What goes around comes around. The once-adored heiress had fallen so low she was like a stray dog on the street. She clung shamelessly to Jiang Yin’s leg. “Jiang-jie, can you spare me a meal?”

They had loved each other passionately when they were young, and hated each other too. Jiang Yin had cried over her in the middle of the night. Now she clenched both fists and forced out one word through gritted teeth: “Get lost.”

*

At the Hong Kong-style cafe, Jiang Yin ordered a tableful of food based on Kun Da’s old tastes. She folded her arms and leaned back in her chair as Kun Da wolfed it down. “Hmph. Eat it, and be grateful.”

After a shopping spree, Jiang Yin sat on the leather sofa outside the fitting room, elbows on her knees. She glanced casually at the radiant beauty before her, now completely transformed. “Tch. You’re not all that.”

Kun Da shamelessly pressed close, her red lips brushing Jiang Yin’s ear. “Jiang-jie, keep me. I’ve picked up all sorts of new tricks over the years.”

*

She was still beautiful, but no longer immaculate. She was like a crystal doll lying in a garbage heap, covered in sour soup and leftovers.

Jiang Yin took her home, cleaned her up, mended her, and set her by the bed. Only then could the crystal doll belong to her completely.

“She’ll be grateful to me, love me, and never leave. I’m all she has.”

The obedience and love of their youth had never faded. Hidden beneath fragile pride, they were humbly offered up in the form of a savior looking down on the one she rescued.

The clear light in her heart had always been pure and flawless.

A sharp-tongued, soft-hearted provider who scrimps and saves to care for her wife x “the heiress forever”

Theme: Don’t rest on your laurels when you’re lucky, and don’t let misfortune knock you down