Echoes of a Secret Crush

[The story is complete. Please add my next book, Spring Breeze Knows Not Passion, to your reading list!]

Song Yancheng and Zhao Qingyao lived in the same building for ten years, yet their lives never intersected.

One was a prodigy who could cram at the last minute and still hold on to first place in his grade. The other was a hard worker who would immediately fall out of the top ten if she let up even a little.

During the years she studied by lamplight at night, the sight she saw most often was his back as he left an internet cafe at dawn.

The unruly, aloof boy never gave her a proper look.

He only ever smiled knowingly when a boy they both knew teased her.

She was impossibly well-behaved.

He was far too rebellious.

Neither of them thought much of the other.

The year they took the college entrance exams, he got into a prestigious university in the north as the top student in the city. His name was everywhere, while she did poorly and missed out on the university she'd hoped to attend.

After accidentally seeing her score report, he spoke to her for the first time in all those years. "If you dislike physics so much, why choose the science track?"

She clenched her fists, her voice trembling with nerves. "Because someone I like... really likes physics. I wanted to get a little closer to his world."

"That's it?"

She didn't deny it.

The unruly, aloof boy let out a scornful laugh. He hadn't made any judgment aloud, but she heard his answer in that laugh.

A smart person would never bet their future on someone whose feelings were uncertain. In his eyes, she clearly wasn't smart enough.

But he didn't know that, tucked away at the very back of her desk, was a picture of him winning first prize in the physics competition at seventeen. It had never faded.

*

During her four years at university, Zhao Qingyao never deliberately sought news about him again, but she still heard bits and pieces.

He was still the prodigy everyone admired, while she had long since faded into the crowd.

When they met again, they were both old enough to be discussing marriage.

The people around them had already married and had children. The older relatives at the table teased them, but the girl who used to be so timid didn't even look up. Scrolling through her phone, she said, "The ones you introduced last time were pretty good."

One sold phones, one ran an internet cafe, one was a programmer, and one was an influencer.

The only one she ignored was Song Yancheng, now a rising star in the tech industry.

The once-rebellious boy had grown into a steady, mature man. He sat on a dim sofa without saying a word.

Later, as the conversation moved on, the cool and handsome man strolled over behind her amid the clamor, picked up the cigarette case beside her, and let his hard chest brush her slender shoulder blades. "Anyone but me?"

Zhao Qingyao's fingers paused on her screen. "...I didn't say that."

He curled his lips. "You don't like men who are good at physics anymore?"

She seemed not to hear the teasing in his voice and replied casually, "I like men with good physiques now."

He tilted his head thoughtfully, the warm breath from his nose brushing her neck. "Then how do I compare to those guys you met last time?"

She looked him over with a straight face. "They let me touch them."

*

Six months later, they met up with old friends.

Zhao Qingyao and Song Yancheng sat at opposite ends of the crowd, neither looking at the other. She seemed perfectly composed, while he looked furious.

At some point, someone brought up the past. Everyone groaned. "Qingyao, do you know how long Brother Song chewed you out for choosing the science track back then? He was still ranting about it when he got drunk last year."

She'd heard it every year. She was sick of hearing about it.

"So who was that idiot who wasted your youth? And what kind of pretentious freak likes physics?"

Zhao Qingyao thought they had a point and nodded along. "The sort who came first in the provincial physics competition at seventeen."

The whole room fell silent.

Everyone turned as one to look at Song Yancheng, sitting in the corner.

Zhao Qingyao smiled faintly. "But that was all when we were young. I don't like him anymore."

The crowd dispersed.

The cool, handsome man cornered her in a deserted alley, gripping her waist and pressing his tall nose against her neck with an angry look. "Zhao Qingyao, if you've got the nerve, say that again."

"A tech-world rising star who doesn't realize he's in love + X + a well-behaved 'bad student' teacher who's learned to flirt"

My next book will be Spring Breeze Knows Not Passion

On the first day Chi Lie transferred from the special police unit to a local police station, a passerby's video of him accidentally went viral, making him an online sensation thanks to his stunning looks.

It sparked a nationwide wave of people calling him their husband.

But he refused interviews and never livestreamed. In person, his eyes were so cold and piercing that everyone who tried to approach him fell silent with fear.

At the same time, internet users dug up his personal account.

Even before he went viral, someone had already been leaving bold comments:

"Husband, look at me."

"Husband, I miss you so much on this rainy day. Look at me."

"Husband, autumn's coming. Wear more clothes so I can look at you."

Everyone wondered who this brave soul could be

But from the day he went viral, the account never appeared again.

*

As a low-energy, socially anxious office worker, Yu Li recharged each day by looking at handsome men online.

Among a bunch of ordinary guys, one male college student from a sports college was especially handsome. He looked so full of energy that just looking at him twice could make your blood race.

So, thinking, "Even if I'm a little bold, he'll never know who I am," she secretly watched him online for half a year and occasionally left a couple of comments.

Until he became famous across the internet

He wasn't a college athlete at all, but a real special police officer.

One meter eighty-six, eight-pack abs, and able to subdue a two-hundred-jin criminal with his bare hands.

While everyone wondered if she was his actual girlfriend, Yu Li quietly opened a search engine: Is it illegal to flirt with a police officer without knowing who he is?

#I haven't cried, I've just died a little inside#

After spending over half a year on tenterhooks and seeing nothing happen, Yu Li gradually put it behind her, until work required her to visit the police station.

In the enormous office, the only person there was a handsome man with long legs, dressed in civilian clothes, staring straight at her. Even sitting there, he gave off an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Yu Li forced herself to strike up a conversation.

To her surprise, the handsome man, who had been watching her coldly for nearly ten minutes, suddenly gave a scornful laugh. "Why aren't you calling me 'husband' today?"

Yu Li: "Huh? Huh!"

#What do you do when you run into the real guy after flirting with him online? Asking for a friend. This is urgent.

#How did an introvert like me manage to cause this much trouble?

Later, the vanished account showed up in the comments again: "Girls, if you meet a handsome guy you like, just keep calling him your husband until he decides he really is your husband. Tried and tested. I just got back from seeing him today."

The girls in the comments: ?

What did you just get back from? Explain.

Low-energy introverted soft girl x high-energy, poker-faced special police officer

Theme: Never forget your original aspirations