A Neighborly Hello

[The next book is now underway: Ebony Wood Meets Spring, a rugged ethnic-minority man x a sweet, gentle girl]

[An alluring neighbor who has no idea she's alluring x a secretly flirtatious male professor | Complete, revised, with an additional 100,000-word bonus story. Pirated copies are incomplete, so please support the official version.]

1.

Two years ago, Xiang Zhi met a guy online with a wonderful voice. Since then, she hadn't heard another voice that made her feel the same way.

That is, until the day a private package of hers went missing. As she was lodging her third complaint against the delivery company, a man in a black cashmere coat walked past and said into his phone, "It's a harassing package."

His voice caught her attention. She thought it would be a passing encounter, but she never expected to become the "stalker" he was talking about.

She thought he was a creep, and he thought she was up to no good. Then the fire door closed, and they discovered they were neighbors.

2.

As the saying goes, a near neighbor is better than a distant relative.

When the internet in Xiang Zhi's apartment stopped working, Shen Jingbai came to fix it.

When Xiang Zhi got hungry in the morning, Shen Jingbai came to feed her.

Even when Xiang Zhi worked the night shift, Shen Jingbai showed up at the bar when her shift ended to bring her home.

After Shen Jingbai had let himself into her place for who knew how many times, Xiang Zhi was eating the sweet-and-sour mandarin fish he'd made when she spotted a familiar dating app on his phone screen.

She downloaded the app again, found the only person she followed, and sent him a message: "Hi."

His phone vibrated.

3.

One day, while having dinner with a friend, Xiang Zhi complained, "Don't be fooled by his impeccable clothes and glasses, or how polite and cultured he is. He even holds the elevator door for me. But the more a man pretends to be decent, the wilder he is behind closed doors."

Just then, the server who'd been grilling their meat turned around. Xiang Zhi happened to spot Shen Jingbai taking a seat at the next table. The rest of dinner was nerve-racking. At last, they paid and went outside, where she saw the man smoking beneath a golden trumpet tree by the roadside. He asked, "What have I done to make Miss Xiang think I'm wild behind closed doors?"

[Reading Guide]

* You're my one and only special follow. The moment you appear, the world goes deafeningly loud.

* A neighbor who keeps odd hours and has no idea she's alluring x a health-conscious, secretly flirtatious old-school gentleman

* A slice-of-life story about a romance between neighbors.

The next book is underway: Ebony Wood Meets Spring. Find it on my profile:

[A rugged northern horse trainer x a sweet southern jasmine]

Zhou Mo drove a court car out to the grasslands to deliver a summons. She waited from morning until sunset before the defendant finally returned, but the moment he saw her, he dashed into a black SUV and took off.

She chased him deep into the wilderness and finally forced the SUV to stop. One pair of handcuffs linked her wrist to the man's strong, sinewy one. Just before altitude sickness set in, she gasped, "You can't get away now."

When Zhou Mo woke up again, she was in a Mongolian yurt lit by a butter lamp. A child was giving her water. The moment the child saw her open her eyes, his dark eyes lit up and he shouted, "Lou Wangdong, your wife is awake!"

Wait, the defendant Zhou Mo was after wasn't named Lou Wangdong.

The man's eyes, deep as ebony, turned toward her. Zhou Mo silently wondered where things had gone wrong, but then he spoke in a low voice: "I don't know what Mom told you, but I'm not interested in a blind date."

An idea to play along sprang into Zhou Mo's mind. "Help me find someone, and I'll unlock the handcuffs."

Lou Wangdong's eyes darkened like a wolf's on the grasslands. "If you don't unlock them, we'll sleep here tonight."

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Theme: Showcasing the appeal of women in niche professions.