The Older One Who Often Treats Me to Meals

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Younger veterinarian (upright, sincere, doglike academic ace) x older flight attendant (gentle, healing, artsy senior)

(I)

Li Ziyan had always had everything go her way. She came from a wealthy family and was smart, and it seemed there was nothing in the world she couldn't handle. As both the top student and the school bully, she woke up every day ready to happily burn through her youth. Her best friends went through boyfriend after boyfriend, but all she cared about was outperforming everyone in her studies and leading her school team to victory in the university league.

Romance? No time!

Lately, though, she had started to think one of the senior students around her was acting strangely.

When Li Ziyan finished training, drenched in sweat, only to find the cafeteria closed, that senior she barely knew would share half her meal with her.

When Li Ziyan and her friends raced around campus on skateboards, she saw that senior passing through the courtyard and casually picking up litter from the ground.

When Li Ziyan was deliberately fouled by a player from another school on the court, that senior volunteered to accompany her to the hospital for an examination.

"Xia Rou, are you an angel?" Li Ziyan murmured, dazed, as she gazed at the figure before her through her concussion.

(II)

Xia Rou was quiet and gentle, seemingly easy to approach, but she kept everyone at an overly polite distance. Even so, when she was young, she had once fallen for someone.

But when she accidentally overheard Li Ziyan say, "I don't want romance at all," reserved and self-controlled Xia Rou merely blinked. She never confessed the feelings between them, not even before graduation.

Years later, when they met again in a foreign country, their old rapport was still there. Xia Rou couldn't help pressing a hand to her heart as it pounded uncontrollably. She had thought this arrangement was enough: their regularly scheduled monthly flights, their set meetings after landing. Now grown up, she treasured the brief, fragmentary time they spent together each month at their layover destination.

Then one day, after Xia Rou got off the plane at the end of her shift, Li Ziyan wasn't there waiting for her as usual. When she got a call from the hospital, she panicked.

She hurried to the hospital room. Li Ziyan was wrapped up in bandages and, fighting through the pain, managed a smile at Xia Rou. "Sorry I didn't come pick you up today." Seeing the woman's still-dark expression, she asked cautiously, "Xia Rou, are you mad?"

"Mad?" Xia Rou's voice cracked. Her eyes reddened, and for once her feelings showed. "You got yourself covered in injuries, then hid how badly you were hurt from me. What do I have to be mad about?"

"And what right do I have to be mad?"

Seeing the tears about to fall from the person she cherished more than anything, Li Ziyan felt a pain in her chest worse than falling off a horse. And so Li Ziyan spent every moment she had in this life proving to the woman who was like an angel to her that she had more right than anyone to be angry.

Author's Note

- Happy ending, slow burn. The early part is everyday campus life, and the later part follows them into adulthood.

- No melodramatic twists in the main storyline. It's simply about two people meeting, getting to know each other, learning to get along, and ultimately staying together.

- The author never attended a regular university in China. If the author's portrayal of campus life differs from readers' experiences, please take the author's description as the reference.

- Please do not pirate this novel! Please do not pirate this novel! I'm begging you! If it gets pirated again, I really will quit writing.

- No unsolicited writing advice. I sincerely ask all readers to be polite. Please don't hurt anyone, even online. Thank you!

-- Coming Next --

Title: My Girl, Who Can't Hear

Genius university lecturer (upright, sharp-tongued but softhearted, wild younger woman) vs. cafe owner (insecure, gentle and shy, deaf older woman)

(I)

At eleven, Gu Yuxi's life was on "easy" mode. Everything in the world came effortlessly to her, like a game. Apart from thinking some people around her were idiots, she lived freely and without a single complaint.

Even when Lin Yang, who had to stay in her room temporarily because of family circumstances, came into her life, Gu Yuxi didn't think much of it and simply greeted her politely. But all she got from Lin Yang was a cold look.

What? How rude.

It wasn't until she saw Lin Yang's hearing aid lying on the ground that Gu Yuxi realized life didn't come in just one mode. Even so, she wanted to prove to Lin Yang that no matter how "difficult" things were, if she was brave enough, she could still find treasure and discover a way to win.

So she began teaching Lin Yang how to pronounce words properly, encouraging her not to fear other people's stares and showing her how to be strong.

"Don't be afraid." Even with a robber's knife pressed to her throat, young Gu Yuxi remained perfectly calm. She mouthed to the trembling Lin Yang, "They're just a bunch of idiots. There's nothing to worry about."

(II)

As a young girl, Lin Yang had once seen the light.

But she had also watched it disappear between her fingers, and the timid girl retreated into the darkness once more.

At twenty-eight, Lin Yang was already living independently when a familiar face walked in through the door to the sound of the wind chime. Her usually cool expression was instantly filled with bewilderment. She hurriedly put on a mask and hid her hearing aid beneath her long hair. She didn't want Gu Yuxi to recognize her, but she also wanted to seem "normal" in front of her.

Watching the still-dazzling woman surrounded by people, Lin Yang stood alone in the silence and turned to retreat behind the counter. But then her eyes met Gu Yuxi's bright gaze.

"Sorry." "The students are being too rowdy." "I'll wait for you to finish work."

Looking at the woman in the distance, who signed fluently with a wicked smile just like always, Lin Yang's lonely heart trembled. The sunlight broke through the darkness once more, scorching and blinding, as if it would burn her.

But so what?

After all, she had never managed to resist it.

Theme: Helping each other grow and become better people