Summer and Childhood Friends

Weibo: @JinjiangRibsChiliSauce (Please don't bring pirated copies here to complain about the novel.)

A playboy hero pursues his wife and suffers for it; the gentle second male lead successfully wins her heart. My next novel, Springtime Return, is now open for collection.

Novel blurb:

Marriage first, love later #ChildhoodSweethearts #SecretOfficeMarriage #PursuingHusband #PursuingWife #SecretMaleCrush #TwoYearAgeGap

Capital City rich young master x gentle assistant

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Modern arc:

At twenty-two, Jiang Jingzhi impulsively married her direct superior, Ji Huailin.

Ji Huailin wasn't just her boss. He was also her first love, the one she'd kicked aside back then.

A few days after they got their marriage license, Ji Huailin drafted a marital agreement. It had only three short clauses:

1. They could not reveal their relationship at work.

2. They had to keep an appropriate distance.

3. They could not interfere in each other's private lives.

Whether at work or in private, Ji Huailin treated Jiang Jingzhi like a stranger.

Even though she was newly married, she felt like a living widow.

Jiang Jingzhi suppressed the ache in her heart, kept her head down, and never crossed the line.

But one day, when she sat at a table with a male colleague, eating and chatting, a crack appeared in the usually calm and self-possessed man's composure.

In the cramped break room, their lips and teeth tangled, their breaths mingling.

The man's fingertips brushed her red lips. Through gritted teeth, he said in a low voice, "Jingzhi, keeping your distance means keeping it from other people."

Jiang Jingzhi shook off his hand and looked up coldly, reminding him word by word, "Mr. Ji, clause three of our marital agreement says we can't interfere in each other's private lives."

She turned and walked away, but after only a few steps, she heard his voice behind her, almost trembling. "I was wrong. Please don't treat me like this."

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Younger years arc:

Jiang Jingzhi liked gentle people, yet that summer she became entangled with the cool and arrogant Ji Huailin.

Ji Huailin was outstanding, from a family renowned in the Capital City social scene, and everyone saw him as a favored son of heaven. Jiang Jingzhi, by contrast, was just an outsider who had lived in the Ji household for over a decade.

On a summer night when they were eighteen, Ji Huailin broke into Jiang Jingzhi's room and humbly begged her to choose a university in the capital.

Beneath the dim light, the boy's eyes were filled with tenderness and deep affection. His scorching kiss sealed Jiang Jingzhi's lips, and, in her daze, she nodded.

But on the day she received her admission letter, Ji Huailin looked at her with red-rimmed eyes, his voice seemingly edged with ice. "Jiang Jingzhi, you're a liar."

He threw the letter on the floor and left without looking back. He was gone for several years.

Reader's Notes

* The leads are each other's first and only.

* No intimate scenes before they are adults.

* The story goes from their younger years to the modern day.

* The male lead gets a bit sharp-tongued midway through the story!

* The author loves melodrama. The writing style is old-fashioned, there are lots of author-created details, and the story is angsty.

* This novel has anti-piracy measures. If your subscription rate is below 80%, you can read it after 36 hours.

* Weibo: @JinjiangRibsChiliSauce

Blurb screenshot dated 2022/9/23

//// My next novel, Springtime Return. Please add it to your collection.

* A playboy hero pursues his wife and suffers for it; the gentle second male lead wins her heart.

Cool and gentle male college student x bright and spoiled young heiress

Novel blurb:

Ever since Jiang Li was old enough to understand, whenever her mother got the chance, she would tell her, "You and Shen Qingzhou, the younger son of the Shen family in Tongcheng, have an informal engagement. You like him too, so don't let another woman steal him away, understand?"

Whenever she heard this, Jiang Li wanted to say: Shen Qingzhou doesn't like your daughter's type. He's always liked the delicate, helpless sort.

But she didn't want to change herself for Shen Qingzhou.

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The night Jiang Li met Lin Zhiqi, she'd just learned that Shen Qingzhou had gotten another girlfriend.

Lin Zhiqi was slender and tall, with handsome, striking features, but his eyes were gentle and innocent.

He stood before her holding a cup of honey water.

"To sober you up," he said.

Jiang Li raised the corner of her eye, draped an arm over his shoulder, and traced her slender fingers across his thin lips. "You're Shen Qingzhou's roommate, and I'm his fiancee. How about we do something interesting?"

As soon as she said it, a faint blush swiftly spread behind Lin Zhiqi's ears. Looking extremely uncomfortable, he pushed her away. "Jiang Li, please have some self-respect."

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In the midst of his busy schedule, Shen Qingzhou found time to break up with his clingy girlfriend. Then he remembered that Jiang Li hadn't appeared in front of him for over half a month. When he called, the line was busy. He went to her dorm, but her roommate said she'd gone traveling.

When he got back to his own dorm, he realized that Lin Zhiqi, who slept in the bed across from his, had also been gone for quite a while.

He suppressed his inexplicable panic and called Jiang Li again and again. At last, she answered at dusk.

"Jiangjiang, where are you? Can I come find you?"

At a seaside villa in Nancheng, Jiang Li swirled the red wine in her glass and glanced at Lin Zhiqi, who was watching her in silence by the window. Remembering the repressed, possessive kiss he'd given her just a second before she'd picked up, she smiled meaningfully and said, "I'm on my honeymoon."

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Theme: Move forward fearlessly and love openly.