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In Jian Nian's view, a decent ex should never show up again. And if they did, they should never have anything to do with each other.

So on the day she ran into her ex-boyfriend again, afraid that Zhou Jinyuan might think she had spent all these years pining for him, Jian Nian grabbed her childhood friend and introduced him as her boyfriend.

"Long time no see, Zhou. This is my boyfriend."

Zhou Jinyuan smiled and greeted them. A few days later, he moved in next door to her.

In the first month, Zhou Jinyuan asked her all sorts of questions about renting a place, supposedly to build a good relationship with his neighbor.

In the second month, Zhou Jinyuan started joining her for street food and badminton, and occasionally showed up at her place in a V-neck pajama shirt.

In the third month, Jian Nian got caught in a downpour after work and couldn't find a taxi. Zhou Jinyuan picked her up in a sports car, with a cake she loved waiting in the passenger seat.

She had meant to keep her distance, but somehow they kept getting closer.

One time, Jian Nian video-called him, and Zhou Jinyuan answered while changing his clothes.

His fair skin and lean, defined muscles kept flashing before her eyes. Unable to take it anymore, Jian Nian tactfully suggested, "Why don't you put a shirt on?"

His desire to show off was so obvious that Jian Nian felt too embarrassed to call him out.

After thinking it over, Zhou Jinyuan made an earnest suggestion. "Actually, if you're going to watch those videos of guys, you might as well watch me. I make time to work out every week, and I'm in pretty good shape."

Jian Nian: "..."

She wasn't interested in muscular men. She'd only happened to come across those videos while scrolling.

-

Not long afterward, Jian Nian had a brief conversation with a guy who had a crush on her.

Seeing Zhou Jinyuan's silence, she tentatively asked, "Are you jealous?"

Zhou Jinyuan replied quite reasonably, "I'm not that petty."

Jian Nian believed him.

But after she asked him for a goodnight kiss before heading home, Zhou Jinyuan kissed her while listing every guy she'd known over the past seven or eight years, from high school to the present, pointing them out one by one.

She hadn't even realized she knew that many men until he brought them up.

So it took her several days to make it up to him.

-

Only later did Jian Nian learn that the year they broke up, something had happened to Zhou Jinyuan's family. Overnight, he had gone from a pampered young master to having nothing at all.

During the years they were apart, she was the only reason he kept going.

Zhou Jinyuan had fought with everything he had to get back to her.

On the day they met again, Zhou Jinyuan took countless deep breaths behind the door before opening it and pretending the encounter was casual.

PS:

1. Both leads are virgins, and each is the other's first love.

2. The heroine initiated the breakup.

3. The hero is already wealthy when they reunite.

4. The hero knew from the beginning that the childhood friend was a fake boyfriend.

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Blurb:

[Bright and Spirited Heroine X Cool and Quietly Sly Hero]

How does it feel to see again the person you once confessed your love to in a letter?

Qu Qingning doesn't know how other people feel, but she just wants to find a hole to crawl into.

As a child, she was naive and clung to Bian Li, the boy next door who was three years older, following him around almost every day.

After graduating from high school, encouraged by a friend, she wrote him a love letter and mailed it straight to the university he attended. But his roommate got hold of it and even sent her a thank-you letter in reply.

When she learned Bian Li had a girlfriend, Qu Qingning's girlish heart died, and she never bothered him again.

-

At twenty-three, Qu Qingning quit her job and traveled to a city she had long wanted to visit. To her surprise, she ran into Bian Li there.

She meant to pretend she didn't know him, but Bian Li's mother recognized her at once and insisted she stay at their house.

They saw each other every day.

One night, Qu Qingning was building a snowman in the courtyard when Bian Li happened to come downstairs.

She tried to run, but he blocked her way.

Bian Li was still as warm and refined as ever, and asked in his cool, clear voice, "Why do you always try to avoid me whenever you see me? Am I really that scary?"

"N-no."

After a moment's thought, Qu Qingning took a deep breath and finally summoned the courage to say, "Actually, I did those things when I was young and foolish. You're so magnanimous and forgiving, Brother Bian. You wouldn't hold them against me, right?"

Bian Li nodded. "What things? I don't remember."

Qu Qingning instantly relaxed.

Right, it had all happened ages ago. They were both adults now, so of course he wouldn't hold it against her.

But as she turned away, Bian Li grabbed her wrist and asked casually, "Do you mean when you were five and asked me to carry you to buy candy, or when you were thirteen and came running to my house in tears because you'd done badly on an exam and were too afraid to go home, so you had to sleep at my place to feel safe?"

Bian Li looked at her, his gaze smoldering. "Or do you mean the love letter you wrote me when you were eighteen?"

Qu Qingning: "..."

All she could think was: I'm doomed.

-

Later, Qu Qingning fell for him again and tried to feel out Bian Li's feelings, but he remained unmoved.

One time, drunk, she let her true feelings slip and asked angrily, "Why are you so hard to win over?"

Bian Li picked her up and comforted her. "Then stop trying. I'll say yes."

He was afraid she was acting on a whim, but he couldn't bear to let her suffer even a little.

-

Not long afterward, gossip spread through the doctoral institute at A University about Bian Li, the abstinent heartthrob from the chemistry department who wanted nothing to do with women.

Apparently, every day after finishing his experiments, Bian Li would call a girl right away.

The usually stone-faced Bian Li would smile only then.

The girl was Qu Qingning, a junior at the graduate institute next door.

PS:

1. Both leads are virgins and each other's first love. The hero's roommate made up the story about him having a girlfriend.

2. They are three years apart. The heroine has a one-sided crush at first, then they fall for each other.

3. No intimate scenes while either lead is underage.

Theme: The passionate love of youth.