Secretly in Love with Babylon

Next up: I’m starting *Marry Cecilia*, a marriage-first, love-later story. Please add it to your reading list~ The print edition of *Secretly in Love with Babylon* is now available, featuring a brand-new extra chapter. Find it on all major platforms. Blurb 1. Meng Shao has had a secret crush on Cheng Boci ever since one afternoon in high school, when she heard him recite a poem in clear, fluent English over the campus radio. He was the school’s golden boy, adored by everyone: forever the top student, from an impressive family, with a bright future ahead of him. And among all the girls who fell for him, she was the most unremarkable. After the college entrance exams, she worked up the courage to slip a note into his desk and ask him to meet her. She had planned to confess her feelings, but lost her nerve at the last moment. Later, she asked a friend to give him a book of poetry instead. He glanced at the name on the gift and asked, politely but coolly, “Who is Meng Shao?” 2. At an awards ceremony, Meng Shao, the year’s Best Bilingual On-Camera Reporter, was asked whether anyone had influenced her on her journey to success. Meng Shao smiled brightly and beautifully as she spoke of once having a secret crush on someone brilliant and far beyond her reach. She had even given him a book, marking a poem in it as a confession, but had never received a response. Her interviewer expressed sympathy and asked if she regretted it. She smiled and shook her head. Time had passed, she said, and she had moved on. After the ceremony, Meng Shao passed Cheng Boci, now a renowned diplomat. By then, he held a high-ranking position. Dressed in a pure black suit, he had an elegant, dignified air that kept everyone at a distance. Meng Shao knew Cheng Boci would not remember her, so she did not greet him. Just as she was about to pass him like a stranger, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. The man, always known for his gentle composure, looked down at her with a solemn gaze. His grip was strong enough to make her ache a little. “You don’t recognize me anymore? Was it fun standing me up back then, Miss Meng?” 3. Only later did Meng Shao learn that after the college entrance exams, when she had asked him to meet and then backed out out of fear, Cheng Boci had waited for her in the pouring rain all night. He had also kept the book of poetry to this day. His claim that he did not remember her had only been something he said in anger. In that moment, Meng Shao truly understood that the three years she had spent secretly loving him in high school had not been a futile journey through darkness Cheng Boci took her hand and guided it to the book of poetry on a high shelf. His deep breaths brushed her ear. “If I read it to you again, would you still want to listen?” - “I even believe you own the whole universe.”, Pablo Neruda, *Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair* - Updates every eight days at 8 p.m. vb@wozhu liujing_ Reading guide: 1. A secret crush comes true / both leads fall in love for the first time 2. First set in school, then in the city 3. A product of the era when students were divided into science and humanities tracks The explanation of the title is in the first chapter of the extras. Blurb for *Marry Cecilia* Yu Youzhi, a has-been CEO-romance novelist, is stuck in a career rut and has just been dumped by her boyfriend. She earns only a few hundred a month. Her mother urges her to change careers as soon as possible, get married, and live the kind of normal life that adults approve of. Yu Youzhi tosses out an outlandish description of the male lead in her novel: “I want someone who earns hundreds of billions a year, has a PhD, speaks five languages, and casually buys me a little island in the Pacific.” She is sure there’s no way she’ll find someone like that. To her surprise, a week later her mother calls: “I’ve arranged for you to meet someone this weekend. You’d better do as you promised.” Yu Youzhi: ...? Could her CEO romances actually be realistic fiction? / Sitting in an expensive restaurant for a blind date, Yu Youzhi watched in disbelief as Liang Cishen took the seat across from her. The man had sharp, cool features and an air of aloof refinement. He wore a bespoke suit, and the priceless cuff links at his wrists gleamed with a cutting chill. She knew who he was: the head of the Liang financial conglomerate, a man who could turn the world upside down with a flick of his hand, and whom everyone fawned over. They belonged to completely different worlds. Their only connection was that, while she was in college, she had tutored the daughter of Liang Cishen’s housekeeper. Yu Youzhi asked cautiously, “Mr. Liang, did you... sit at the wrong table?” As far as she knew, he was cold and uninterested in romance, and no woman could get close to him. Liang Cishen looked up at her. “Yu Youzhi, which island in the Pacific do you like?” Yu Youzhi froze. Liang Cishen spoke casually. “I need a marriage partner who won’t interfere in my life. You’re a good fit.” Yu Youzhi: “...Um, do you really have to buy an island? Could you just give me the cash instead?” / “Yu Youzhi’s Post-Marriage CEO Observation Diary” Day 5: We got married because we each needed something. Neither of us likes the other. But why does Liang Cishen come home so early every day...? Day 10: Huh? When did he add a rule to the marriage contract requiring us to talk three times a day? Day 20: No, a CEO is supposed to wake up every day in a bed that’s 200 square meters. Why does Liang Cishen insist on squeezing into the little bed in the second bedroom with me? What is wrong with him = =. Day 30: (At a class reunion, entry missing) Yu Youzhi came home smiling after the handsome guy she had once secretly liked in school walked her downstairs, only for Liang Cishen to seize her wrist. He pinned her into a corner, looking down at her. “Zhizhi, Auntie says you want to find a husband like the male lead you wrote. Isn’t there one more thing you forgot to include?” Yu Youzhi: ? Liang Cishen leaned closer, his hot breath brushing her ear. “Possessive, and jealous.” / Yu Youzhi had always thought her relationship with Liang Cishen began after they got married. She had never imagined he could like her. But he would spend a fortune bidding on a diamond worth hundreds of millions for her, go out at midnight to buy the snacks she had suddenly craved, and drive eight hours home through a rainstorm on a night when flights were grounded, simply because he was worried about her catching a cold. Then one day, she found a photo of herself from her tutoring days on Liang Cishen’s phone. And at the time, she had still been with her ex-boyfriend. It turned out that even a man like Liang Cishen, standing at the very top of the pyramid, could have a secret crush he could not bring himself to confess. When she discovered his secret, he was not embarrassed. After the lights went out that night, he treated her wickedly, then bent close to whisper in her ear, “Zhizhi, the first time I saw you, I knew we’d end up here someday.” [Bonus scene] Yu Youzhi found her writing touch again, and her new book became a huge hit. On a whim, she wrote a whole collection of steamy bonus chapters for her readers. To her surprise, she happened to discover one day that Liang Cishen was following her updates on his computer. Yu Youzhi: !!! That night, she confronted him, both embarrassed and furious. He pulled her onto his lap, his voice husky and teasing. “You know so many tricks, Zhizhi. Why have you never told me?” Theme: Aspire to the universe, and become the universe.