Dedicated journalist vs. sickly pianist
It was early spring, in March, with rain falling day after day. Yu Jia arranged the interview at a teahouse.
Yu Jia put on her professional fake smile. "I heard your 40th birthday was a couple of days ago, but you seem much younger than your age. Is that the magic of music?"
Mr. Zhou replied expressionlessly, "No."
Yu Jia's inner thoughts: ??? How am I supposed to respond to that? Help, I'm in a hurry!
Zhou Zhenshu's inner thoughts: What does that have to do with music? I'm not even 30 yet.
A year later, it was early spring again.
As usual, Zhou Zhenshu fell ill during the season when the weather turned warm and cold in turns. His coughing reddened the corners of his eyes, and he looked at Yu Jia so pitifully that he managed to make her stay.
And so, on a weekday morning, two people with no ambition sat cross-legged on the bay window, watching the rain.
Yu Jia dipped a finger in tea and wrote on the wooden table, one character at a time:
"Pillowside poetry and books are best enjoyed in leisure; before the door, the scenery is lovely when rain arrives."
Zhou Zhenshu humored her. "Reporter Yu, what beautiful writing!"
Yu Jia rolled her eyes. "Could you make it any more obvious that you're humoring me?"
Zhou Zhenshu didn't tell her that he had memorized those words the first day he heard her name.
Back then, they were both young and innocent.
A few things to know before reading:
1. Old-school melodrama, with the male lead suffering. Some character traits and plot points serve that purpose, so don't read if that's not your thing.
2. Sweet at first, angsty later. The main story has a happy ending.
3. No personal attacks, please. Civil discussion is welcome.
4. That's all for now. I'll update the content warnings as needed.
It's going premium!
This story will go premium on Saturday, October 14, starting from Chapter 24. Chapters 24 to 30 will be locked retroactively, so please don't buy them again if you've already read them.
There'll be a 10,000-word update on the day it goes premium. Come grab some Zhou! I'll post the notice as soon as it happens, so feel free to check back now and then.
Thank you all for your support so far. I hope you'll continue to support the story!
Here's a pre-release notice for my next historical novel.
It's a story about childhood friends who are fellow disciples, becoming enemies and lovers, locked in a deadly struggle. The male lead will have the familiar beautiful, strong, tragic setup.
The pre-release page is up. Feel free to visit my author page and add it to your collection.
"As the Green Mountains Are"
That year, while the head of the Green Mountain Sect was meditating in seclusion, he suffered a cultivation deviation. His meridians were shattered, and he died.
As the sect was thrown into turmoil, He Cheng, the head disciple, betrayed the Green Mountain Sect, founded his own, and abducted Lu Xiaolian, the sect leader's only daughter.
Some say He Cheng was the one who ambushed his own master while the sect leader was in seclusion...
Some say He Cheng wanted to marry Lu Xiaolian and take over as sect leader...
Others say He Cheng was after the secret connected to the Green Mountain Sect's manual that Lu Xiaolian carried...
Rumors were rife, and everyone had a different story.
Lu Xiaolian only knew that her senior brother He, the childhood friend she'd grown up with, had changed.
He had killed his fellow disciples and slaughtered the loyal and righteous. He had truly become a demon everyone in the realm of justice wanted to destroy.
She spent seven years overcoming him. But when she drove her sword into his chest, she suddenly realized she didn't really want to leave him.
Even worse, when she learned that He Cheng, the man she hated with all her heart, had little time left, she suddenly realized she was terrified of him dying just like that.
Theme: May we always stay young and sincere.
I just don't want the person who did the wrong thing to just say a few words, so Xiao Zhou might as well continue to lie down. Then something else went wrong and I needed to find blood relatives and found out it was the Zhou family.
It would be nice if the misunderstanding for so many years has been resolved. I really don't want to say who is right and who is wrong. Just live hard and live well. It doesn't matter whether you are against abuse or not.
He abused his father and finally found out that Zhou Zhenshu was his biological son. Let him regret it.
Xiao Yu has taken care of both career and love, and continues to shine in the news direction. Hello Xiao Yu! Xiao Zhou has regained his original love, said goodbye to his past self, and moved towards a new life with Xiao Yu. Hello Xiao Zhou! Xiao Feng and Xiao Chen also have a happy ending, good to them! My wife has written so many characters with full-bodied characters. I obviously feel that this article is much sweeter than before. There is also daily after-sales service, thank you!
The male protagonist has been reborn. As for Jiajia, is this all about her career? I still want to see her shine in the workplace and kill everyone. After all, she really likes being a reporter.
No, Xiao Zhou's appraisal report couldn't have been changed by Zhou Shiheng's other illegitimate son, right? , Sesame oil is the clue of this article, paving the way for what follows. This foreshadowing is well laid.
Is this, is it going to end? It is strongly suggested that the wife will slowly end her humiliation, fill in Xiao Zhou's tortuous recovery period and various sweet pet scenes, and then let him do what he wants to do for the rest of his life 😳😳😳 live a life full of security
Jiajia is right. You all started a new life one by one, but you left Xiaoshu in the past. No one paid attention to him. Now that the truth has been revealed, you begin to feel guilty and want to compensate, but you have never experienced his pain, so how can you compensate him? Feng Jing is amazing. Come on Xixi, I'll add chicken drumsticks for you
I've finished reading it, and the Spring Festival is over.
It looks great 😭 I was torturing Xiao Zhou the whole time 😭 Da Zhou and his brother's threads are also delicious 🐰