[A resilient, spirited, stubborn female martial arts double and a cold-on-the-outside, wickedly flirtatious, scheming male producer]
In her dream, the warrior actress wears her spear and armor. She flips and flourishes her spear with crisp, precise movements, while her two long pheasant plumes curl around his racing heart.
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1. Three years ago, Qin Zhou'an earned a doctorate from one of the world's top film schools. After returning to China, he went to the drama academy to cast a film, and every female acting student swarmed around him.
Yun Ling was rehearsing The Mu Ke Stronghold at the theater. The moment she stepped outside, she ran into the impeccably dressed Qin Zhou'an. He was both confident and composed. "Interested in joining a film crew? The pay will be good, and I'm confident I can make you an overnight star."
"Do your actors get to start working without any training?"
She hadn't even removed her makeup. Her sword-like brows arched proudly.
Two years later, Qin Zhou'an took over his family's entertainment company, while Yun Ling fell from a warrior actress to a temporary martial arts double at a film studio.
After countless casting directors turned her down, Yun Ling swallowed her pride and shamelessly camped out at the last film set.
"Your name's Yun Ling, right?"
She turned at the sound of the voice and saw Qin Zhou'an, his eyes cool and brows raised. At last, she understood what it meant for the wheel of fortune to turn.
2. Ever since Qin Zhou'an returned to China, rumors of his romantic entanglements have never stopped. Everyone in the industry knows he doesn't care about his reputation, only profit.
So on the night a fire broke out on set, Yun Ling assumed he had driven there through the night only because his rumored girlfriend was trapped inside.
Alone in her hospital room, perhaps overcome by her feelings, she sang a famous passage from The Legend of the White Snake about love that can never be returned.
"I came all this way, and you're singing about unrequited love? Is that any way to treat me?"
Qin Zhou'an, who should have been in someone else's hospital room, stood at her door, every inch the refined gentleman.
Nobody knew that every night, he tossed and turned until he heard one person's opera singing, and that he kept pile after pile of tickets neatly stored in a cabinet.
3. After a video of the two of them kissing in the town square went viral, their relationship was thrust into the spotlight, and public opinion erupted.
Qin Zhou'an had prepared to publicly confirm their relationship. But the person who had shared his bed the previous night, whispering sweet nothings, now sat across from him, fully dressed and sitting ramrod straight, as distant as she had been when they first met again.
"Let's break up."
"Why?"
"Director Qin, I've always acted with integrity. I don't want people saddling me with an ugly label."
Reading Guide:
1. This is a completely fictional setting, and the characters are not based on real people.
2. The story is bittersweet, not a traditional entertainment-industry novel. It starts a little slowly, but picks up later.
3. The leads are each other's only partners. The heroine has her reasons for breaking up with him, and the story has a happy ending.
Coming soon:
[Identity reveal / male lead has a secret crush / older woman-younger man with a three-year age gap]
[Gentle marine veterinarian and wolfish competitive swimmer]
Ruan Yang has a movie buddy. They met on the day she was cheated on, when he commented on her late-night post about feeling miserable.
One day, she went to a preview screening of Interview with the Vampire. As they watched, she gushed to White about how handsome the two male leads were.
White: So which one do you like more?
Xiaoyang: Obviously, I'm after Pitt's body.
That night, a photo appeared in White's previously blank profile: clearly defined eight-pack abs, and a little red mole on his full chest.
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Ding Yibai is a big name at school. He's a nationally ranked athlete, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, long legs, and enough height to make hearts flutter all over campus the moment he arrives.
Ruan Yang, who is interning at an aquarium, never expected she'd be able to recruit him to play a merman. She couldn't wait to share the good news with White.
White: Oh, aren't you going to invite him to dinner?
Xiaoyang: There's a line of upperclassmen waiting to ask him out.
The truth was, he was so handsome that she felt intimidated.
Not long after, the normally haughty and unruly Ding Yibai unexpectedly invited her to dinner, then walked her home.
Once home, she excitedly told White: Everyone says he's difficult to get along with, but he's actually pretty nice!
White: Compared to Pitt?
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Later, when her cheating ex asked to meet up, Ruan Yang messaged Write: What should I do if my ex wants to get back together?
That evening, Ruan Yang spotted her ex waiting outside and didn't know what to do.
Suddenly, a tall, solid body pressed her against the door. She caught a fresh sea-salt scent. "Put your arms around my waist and shoulders."
After her ex left, Ruan Yang breathed a sigh of relief. "What a coincidence! Weren't you supposed to be training?"
"Don't get back together with him, okay?"
Ding Yibai's hair was still damp, his breath hot. "Didn't you say you wanted my body, big sister? Don't you want this merman?"
She looked down and saw a little mole through the collar of his shirt, red as if it were about to bleed.
Theme: Love what you do, and you'll excel at it.
