Wild Rose

When You're Shining is now available.

Next up: Symbiotic Relationship and The Love Game

A teenage extra chapter for Delayed Heartbeat

Gu Qingtong and Shen Mao are childhood friends, betrothed to each other since birth.

At school, they're bitter rivals who constantly clash. At home, they bicker over every little thing and fight over everything else.

No one knows that at night, they once released Kongming lanterns and made wishes together by the school lake; slipped each other notes as they passed; and secretly held hands amid the New Year's Eve crowds, reluctant to let go even as their palms grew damp with sweat.

“We were born together and grew up together. We're meant to be together for life.”

“Grow old together, die together.”

Reading Guide:

1. 1v1, open ending, bittersweet and sweet

2. Childhood friends / bickering couple / two clueless kids secretly crushing on each other

3. For the HE ending, see Delayed Heartbeat in my author profile (complete)

>>>>>>>>>>>>When You're Shining>>>>>>>>>>>>

“When you shine, even the stars bow to you.”

1. Qiao Shanshan, a struggling screenwriter at the bottom of the entertainment industry, finally lands an adaptation of a hit IP, but the male lead is the rival of her favorite idol.

That top-tier star with terrible acting, a diva attitude, baffling taste, a knack for slacking off, and nothing going for him but his looks: Lu Xingyao.

On top of that, Qiao Shanshan has to rewrite the script to accommodate his awful acting!

After countless all-nighters and losing more hair than she could count, Qiao Shanshan finally swore in a fit of rage, “If I ever rewrite a script for him again, I'm a dog!”

Not long afterward, in a hotel reception room.

Lu Xingyao removed the magazine covering his face and slid the sunglasses down the bridge of his nose with a long, slender finger. He gave her an amused look. “I hear you don't want to rewrite my script?”

“...”

2. An accident lands Qiao Shanshan on the trending topics as the “girlfriend of a top-tier star.” A marketing account's vague wording leaves everyone guessing which star it is.

Fans from every fandom rush to Qiao Shanshan's Weibo, demanding that she issue a statement to clear their idols' names.

Just as the online feud threatens to spiral out of control, Lu Xingyao reposts the marketing account's exposé: @LuXingyaoStar: Mine

His Weibo promptly crashes.

Twenty minutes later, #LuXingyaoDating# explodes across the trending topics. Amid fans wailing in despair, he leisurely reposts again: @LuXingyaoStar: Screenwriter

After twenty heart-stopping minutes, Qiao Shanshan can't help asking, “Why didn't you post it all at once?”

Lu Xingyao lazily slips his phone back into his pocket. “I don't like taking the blame for other people.”

“So,” Lu Xingyao says with a smile, “I might need to make this fake relationship with you real.”

3. Lu Xingyao, a household-name top-tier star, never imagined he'd one day beg a hater to become his fan, act in her script for no pay, and still get told his acting was awful.

So he works hard on his acting, turns over a new leaf, and even tries to get friendly with his rival.

The night he wins the first acting award of his life,

The host asks him onstage what inspired him to turn his life around. Lu Xingyao spins the plain band on his middle finger and answers nonchalantly, “My boss said I can only act in her scripts if I win an award.”

Everyone: ?

[Struggling screenwriter x her rival, the scandal-prone top-tier star (career-minded heroine who hates being babied x love-struck, shamelessly flirtatious, arrogant hero)]

[Bickering couple / constant teasing and flirting / sweet, passionate romantic fairy tale]

Theme: Growth