Springtime in the Painted Scene [Mutual Secret Crushes]

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Reunion after years apart / Mutual pining / He pursues her / Mostly set in the city, with flashbacks to their youth / Each other's first love

[One]

When Song Siyuan was seventeen, she met Zhou Zhiyi for the first time.

She fainted in front of him after feeling unwell. In the last moment before she lost consciousness, she saw a young man leaning lazily against a tree, every inch of him radiating a carefree, unruly spirit, wild as the wind.

He was the complete opposite of her: well-behaved, sensible, and always following the rules. They seemed to belong to two different worlds.

But on that spring day, when the peach blossoms were in full bloom and everything was bright and beautiful, they took a short trip together.

On the day their trip ended, Zhou Zhiyi saw her off at the airport. Just before Song Siyuan boarded, he called out to her from behind.

The young man's deep eyes gazed at her, seemingly filled with intense, burning affection. In the end, though, he only smiled and said, "Goodbye."

Song Siyuan's heart fluttered more than once.

Even after years went by without seeing Zhou Zhiyi, she still found herself unconsciously sketching his image into her paintings.

[Two]

Song Siyuan met Zhou Zhiyi again at a bar, where she was out with friends.

The man leaned wearily against the bar some distance away. His features were indistinct in the half-lit shadows.

But Song Siyuan recognized him at a glance.

Zhou Zhiyi's gaze met hers only briefly before he looked away. His eyes were cool and distant, as if they were nothing more than strangers.

Their brief time together as teenagers had drifted away like smoke. Perhaps she was the only one who remembered it.

When she got home that night, Song Siyuan locked away everything connected to Zhou Zhiyi in a box.

Later, Song Siyuan reluctantly agreed to her mother's request and went on a blind date with the reliable boy next door, whom they had known for years.

After the date, her match walked her home. She politely said goodbye and turned around, only to see a familiar, tall, rakish figure.

Zhou Zhiyi had been waiting outside her apartment building for who knew how long.

Song Siyuan: "What is it?"

Zhou Zhiyi spoke with some difficulty. His voice was low and hoarse, as if steeped in hard liquor, and edged with pleading and vulnerability.

"Would you consider me?"

"...Don't like him."

Reader's Guide:

1. Both are inexperienced, and each is the other's first love. He pursues her. The story is set in the city, interspersed with flashbacks.

Coming soon: Forced to Be a Bking in the Cultivation World

[Prodigy's rise to power / Female-led cultivation power fantasy]

Xie Lingzhao transmigrates into a cultivation world and gets bound to a Bking System. The System tells her she has to become the biggest bking in the cultivation world: be as arrogant and flashy as possible, and get everyone's attention!

Xie Lingzhao: What happens if I don't?

The System: You'll die~

Well, if all I have to do is show off, I guess I can do that.

Then the original owner's memories come flooding in. Oh, so she's the last descendant of the Huan Tian Clan, and their enemies are watching her like hawks. If she reveals her identity, countless foes will hunt her down.

Xie Lingzhao is afraid of dying, so she decides to... make lots of clones.

Clone 1: Become a prodigy at a top sect, dazzling and magnificent, to meet the System's show-off requirements.

Clone 2: Get an average spiritual root and be an ordinary outer disciple at a sect. The less attention, the better.

Clone 3: Sleep at the very bottom of a secret realm, hoping nobody finds out that someone is lying down there.

As long as she has enough clones, she can't die.

But why are all these low-key clones somehow being mistaken for geniuses and powerful masters?

[The road to immortality is long and treacherous. In cultivation, one need not seek eternal life, only freedom to soar through the nine heavens, cut away every shackle, and reach the summit of the Dao.]

Theme: Life may be hard, but an unbreakable spirit remains.