Smoked Plum

On the eve of the engagement, at a banquet hosted by the Wu family.

A cool breeze stirred. Wu Yi leaned in a corner of the balcony, an unlit cigarette in her hand, looking down at two people embracing in the courtyard.

They were kissing passionately and hadn't noticed her.

A couple of seconds later, footsteps approached from behind. Wu Yi didn't turn around.

Only when the newcomer's figure came into view, carrying a familiar, crisp scent that reached her nose, did Wu Yi deign to glance his way.

"Your fiancee is about to run off with someone, and you still look so calm."

The man calmly took the cigarette from her hand and held it between his long fingers. "What's the rush?"

The one running off was the Wu family's stepdaughter. He had no reason to be worried.

If anyone should be worried, Jing Xiangyan thought, casting a casual glance at the cool-faced Wu Yi,

it should be her, as the older sister.

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Jing Xiangyan saw Wu Yi again during the plum rain season of 2017.

The rain was especially heavy in the south that day. The room was damp, and their mingled breaths lingered for a long time.

He knew Wu Yi's background, but she might not know his. So when he learned that his arranged marriage partner was connected to the Wu family, he agreed. He just hadn't expected that on the day they met--

it would be the Wu family's stepdaughter who came over to stand beside him. When he looked up at the second floor, a beautiful, alluring woman was leaning against the railing, a lit cigarette between her fingers as she casually exhaled clouds of smoke.

As if noticing his gaze, she turned her head and raised an eyebrow.

Jing Xiangyan withdrew his gaze without a change in expression. He recognized that brand of cigarette. It was exactly the same kind Wu Yi had smoked after what happened between them.

Content warnings:

1. Both leads are sexually inexperienced, one-on-one.

2. This story deals with moral issues. Moral crusaders, please don't show up in the comments. If you open the story, read the first chapter, and decide it's not for you, just close it.

3. Every action will be explained.

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Coming soon: Go to Hell, Summer, a campus romance

Blurb:

Sheng Li ran into Shang Xu again while trying to clear up the rumors that she had a secret crush on someone in front of a few people.

Just as she was about to lose her temper, a crisp scent mixed with the smell of soap wafted from behind her. Before she could react, a hand settled on her shoulder.

"That won't do. I already have plans with her."

His languid voice was tinged with a careless drawl.

Sheng Li clenched her fists, furious.

Stay calm.

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Sheng Li had hated this guy for years. When she moved away in elementary school, he never told her. When he transferred back in her sophomore year of high school, he just appeared out of nowhere.

But even though she hated him, their childhood-friend status meant she had no choice but to grit her teeth and invite Shang Xu over for dinner, after her mother pressured her to do it.

Instead, she accidentally stumbled into Shang Xu's secret room.

One glance was enough to make Sheng Li's eyes widen--

The walls were covered with every single one of her likes and personal details. He had even documented her relationships with other people.

Sheng Li couldn't believe it. A chill ran down her spine, and cold sweat broke out as she instinctively turned to flee.

The next moment, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped.

Sheng Li turned around and found him standing behind her. He lowered his head to meet her eyes, his expression unreadable. After a long moment, he slowly smiled, though there was little warmth in his eyes.

"Where are you going?"

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Check out my wife's novel, Birds Flying Toward the Gods, by Huang Tangchen

Blurb:

Scapegoat x aloof beauty

Sensitive, dark-hearted genius girl x refined, wicked, outwardly gentle but secretly sinister man

They save each other and become each other's gods. Their feelings are mutual, and their secret crush turns into true love, from school uniforms to wedding gowns.

In the year she graduated from ninth grade, Yu Yun met Xie Jin.

A wealthy young master with an aloof demeanor, an orphan's withdrawn nature, and a fiercely independent social circle.

Like most people, that was what she thought of Xie Jin when she first met him.

For those two months, Xie Jin would look her way now and then, but the seats around him were always empty, as if he were a centuries-old tree protected by a boundary.

One day, Yu Yun happened to climb over the wall with a bottle of cola and wandered in.

She collided straight into the boy's burning gaze, which he hadn't had time to hide. From then on, neither of them could cool their ardor.

Just before the start of her first year of high school, at the end of summer training camp,

besides the collection of essays that mysteriously went missing, Yu Yun also remembered Xie Jin's inscrutable expression that day, and how he lingered in the back of the classroom.

Fortunately, a year and a half later, they met again.

And the boy had already plotted every detail of their reunion.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I like you."

Seeing Yu Yun's ears turn crimson, Xie Jin grabbed her wrist and shot his shot without hesitation.

"I like you. That's all I mean."

Back then, every day Yu Yun faced nothing but an oppressive gloom she couldn't escape or drive away.

So it was cruelly ironic that their first reunion took place on a rooftop.

One step forward and she'd be doomed forever. She was at her most hysterical, breaking down and losing control.

Yet when she was pulled back from the edge, Yu Yun fell into Xie Jin's incredibly warm embrace.

He surrounded her like the stars, and from that moment on, she couldn't bear to leave him.

The boy's chest trembled with each breath, his strong heartbeat silently telling her: Don't be afraid. You still have me.

All the injustices of fate suddenly turned around in that moment.

He was like a god, constantly telling Yu Yun that she could do anything.

Throughout his youth, Xie Jin's eyes held only one person.

The collection of essays hidden by his pillow, the back he had secretly watched countless times...

He looked at Yu Yun and walked every inch of every place she had been.

Every step held the unspoken, secret feelings he could never reveal.

"You wrote these essays when you were a kid. Why do you keep reading them?"

"Because when I'm tired, I look up at something beautiful."

The year they graduated from university,

Xie Jin opened the sample copy his little fiancee had just received. On the title page, he saw these words:

He was as devout as a god, yet would not save all living beings.

And somehow, he saved me.

Theme: The road ahead is long. Be disciplined, be mindful in solitude, and keep your sharp edges hidden.