A Thousand Charms

Mutual healing | Everyday slice of life | 1v1, both leads are each other's only love | Slow-to-warm and awkward × gentle and speech-impaired

Though Yuan Yu's name contains the word "jade," she knows she's no uncut gem.

Since childhood, she's been afraid of interacting with men. At school, she even asked her mother and teachers to pass along her request not to sit beside boys.

Now that people her age are falling in love and getting married, she still goes out of her way to avoid men.

Until she meets Song Mingjue.

He's quiet and cheerful, takes in stray cats, and runs a studio making glass crafts for a living.

After they "argue," he looks at her with red-rimmed eyes, tears threatening to fall.

He's also the one who slowly signs to her: [Though the world holds a thousand charms, my heart is set on you alone.]

-

At two in the morning, Yuan Yu borrows someone's phone to call him.

He answers almost immediately.

She says nothing, and neither does he. Silence spreads like a tsunami, sweeping over them.

The call timer ticks on, second by second.

In the end, she's the one who hangs up first.

When she returns the phone, two messages arrive: [Don't cry.]

[I am always here.]

For every moment you need me.

-

"Glass is a romantic accident born where sand and fire meet.

So was my meeting you."

■ The male lead loses the ability to speak because of an illness. In short: he's mute.

■ A realistic urban fairy tale [meaning no golden finger, no domineering CEO] about two people who are each other's one and only, wholeheartedly choosing one another. A warm, healing, sweet romance. Other potential trigger points are listed above.

■ Details of glassmaking techniques and other such things are based on and referenced from online sources.

The title and one-line blurb are from: "The world holds a thousand charms, each worth a lingering glance." ("Blow Out the Little Mountains")

Theme: Love is the only answer