Let Me Fall for You

Are you serious? You couldn’t handle it, so you sent your daughter to get me? Other people’s childhood friends are inseparable best friends. Bu Qinghan’s childhood friend is her sworn enemy, someone who has to compete with her in everything and always wants to come out on top. Bu Qinghan is also stubborn and competitive, and she never backs down. She has to be better than the other girl at everything. Until the year she turned seventeen, when her sworn enemy had a child. That was one thing Bu Qinghan couldn’t compete with, and couldn’t possibly match. Though the child belonged to her sworn enemy, Bu Qinghan had to admit the little one was adorable. Soft and cuddly, with the sweet smell of milk. As the child grew, whenever she saw Bu Qinghan, she would run over, hug her leg, pout, and call her Mommy in a soft voice. No matter how her sworn enemy called her, the child ignored her and stretched out her arms for Bu Qinghan to pick her up. Her sworn enemy would roll her eyes in exasperation, while Bu Qinghan laughed out loud and planted a big kiss on the child. Later, the child grew up and stopped calling her Mommy, but she still politely called her Auntie. Bu Qinghan always answered her, too. But when she returned from working abroad after five years away, Bu Qinghan thought the girl would have grown distant, even become a stranger. So why was she even clingier than before? Wen Ran: “Auntie, you have to take responsibility for kissing someone.” Bu Qinghan, bewildered: “No, I only kissed you that one time, and you were four...” How could she remember that so well? Wen Ran: “My mom told me.” Bu Qinghan: I knew it. My sworn enemy sent her daughter to torment me. And now she’s passing it down to the next generation? Later... As night deepens and the bright moonlight shimmers, Wen Ran wraps her arms around Bu Qinghan’s waist and presses close to her ear, calling her Auntie over and over. Bu Qinghan, already conquered but still stubbornly holding out: Don’t think you can drag me home and make me call my sworn enemy Mom! In an interview, a reporter asks Bu Qinghan what the craziest thing she has ever done is. After a long silence, Bu Qinghan answers, “Bungee jumping.” But in those few seconds of silence, she isn’t thinking about the weightless moment of the jump. She’s thinking about the strange way her heart skipped a beat when she met someone’s gaze. Even when you’re fully prepared to bungee jump, you still can’t help screaming as you leap. The craziest thing she has ever done in her life was probably allowing herself to fall for Wen Ran, and then losing herself in that love. Interior designer and high school student | Straight-talking older woman and scheming younger woman | 17-year age gap | Original title: My Sworn Enemy’s Daughter Won’t Leave Me Alone ■ One-on-one romance | No sex before the main characters are adults ■ Upcoming novel, Listening to Daylight, blurb: Singer and convenience store owner Daylight has its troubles, too. I want to hear about them. 1. When her grandmother falls ill, Yan Zhao returns to her hometown to take care of her. She knows the place where she grew up like the back of her hand. One day, she discovers that the supposedly haunted house in the village has been rented out and turned into a convenience store. A shabby, peeling door and window frames, messy but orderly shelves, a cracked cement floor, and a beautiful stranger. She wears red lipstick and has curled hair. Like a snow lotus in a dark pool, she stands out in the dim room. When Yan Zhao enters the shop, she lifts her eyes nonchalantly. She takes her hand off the tabby cat’s back, picks up the hearing aid she just removed, and puts it on. With a faintly noticeable accent, she asks, “What would you like?” At the time, Yan Zhao simply picks up the chewing gum beside her and hands it over without a word. Later, after entering the store again and again, she slowly finds her answer. She wants to be the woman’s ears. 2. One early morning, Listening to Daylight is released on a music platform. In three days, it gets more than ten thousand plays and ten thousand comments. That is an impressive achievement for a newcomer. The lyrics, music, and vocals are all by Yan Zhao. When the song is released, she and the convenience store owner are sitting on a hill to the west of the village, feeling the breeze and drinking the cheap white liquor nobody buys from the shelves. They watch the stars and moon that have yet to fade at dawn, and gaze at the pale light on the horizon... The harsh, fake liquor makes Yan Zhao tear up and feel dizzy. Riding the effects of the alcohol, she boldly, cautiously leans her head against Yan Jinyu’s shoulder. That is when she hears the voice of daylight beside her. 3. She wrote the song in secret, and loved the woman in secret. Yan Zhao thinks the convenience store owner doesn’t know. But what she doesn’t know is Even with her hearing aid off, the owner can still hear the voice of daylight. Because the person she sees can speak with her eyes. One furtive glance, and she hears everything. ■ A gentle, healing story 2022/8/29 Story theme: Age is just a number. Cross the divide.