Related completed novel: Blazing Heat. Come give it a try.
[Starts at 350 follows]
1.
Qi Yanshu and Jiang Yubai's first meeting began with a transaction.
In college, Qi Yanshu first saw Jiang Yubai when she was sitting in for her roommate's class and he walked past the aisle.
A faint mole at the base of his thumb caught her eye.
From then on, every character she drew bore that same distinctive mark.
As time passed, Qi Yanshu grew increasingly dissatisfied with the fragments in her memory. After asking around, she finally learned his name: Jiang Yubai.
To outsiders, Jiang Yubai seemed aloof and cold, yet his alluring, tender eyes drew countless women to him.
So much so that people said of him: Jiang Yubai could talk about anything except love.
Qi Yanshu got an idea. On the school forum, she made a public request to the administrator, saying she wanted to buy Jiang Yubai. She forgot to mention she meant a photo.
Three days later, Qi Yanshu saw Jiang Yubai's hand, and then the man himself.
"I hear you want to buy me?" Jiang Yubai was reckless and brazen, and he got some wicked ideas.
From then on, Qi Yanshu spent lavishly, unable to pull herself away from his body, and gave in to temptation.
But just as her lust turned into genuine affection and she confessed to him, she saw the casual indifference in Jiang Yubai's eyes. His nonchalant words slipped into her ears: "Sorry. I don't like you."
Qi Yanshu went pale and left Jiang Yubai's world for good.
2.
When they met again, Qi Yanshu was a famous comic artist.
And he was a fan's family member.
Jiang Yubai waited until she had finished writing, then greeted her. "Long time no see."
Qi Yanshu gripped her pen and looked up. "Long time no see."
She had thought their reunion was just a story she could casually flip through, but it turned out everything had been meticulously planned by Jiang Yubai.
He used his life as a chessboard to plot a grand future he longed for.
[Bonus Scene]
Later, the two of them flipped through a magazine.
Qi Yanshu suddenly held his hand down, staring at a mole on the model's collarbone, and got an idea.
She tilted her head up and wheedled, "Could I pay to buy..."
Jiang Yubai's expression changed, and he kissed her.
Then he tossed the magazine into the trash.
PS: Beautiful art school painter X brilliant biomedical graduate student
Theme: Always keep looking ahead.
