A Letter from Afar

Yang Wendi should have gone home and dutifully inherited her family fortune. Instead, through a twist of fate, she became a publicity staffer at the company of her idol, the unattainable one she'd admired from afar.

When she finally met the idol she'd liked for ten years, she chickened out.

Afraid her idol might see through her unspoken feelings, she became more and more awkward whenever he was around, putting on a stony, expressionless face. So everyone, from the idol himself to her coworkers, began to suspect they'd hired a hater.

-

Yang Wendi was troubled by it too.

Luckily, her idol had recently become the spokesperson for a mobile game. At last, she could bury her head like an ostrich and lose herself in a source of endless joy.

- "My idol endorses the game, and I play the game. Doesn't that mean I'm playing with my idol?!"

Yang Wendi happily spent money to get better at playing with her idol.

But no amount of spending could change her luck. The higher she climbed on the spending leaderboard, the more people in the game called her a hopeless player.

After her eighth master insulted her and blocked her, Yang Wendi decided to go all in. She opened the rankings and sent a private message to the number-one player: "Hey, handsome, want to date online?"

On the other end of the phone, Gao Yuan, supreme champion of the rankings and national idol, furrowed his brow.

He narrowed his eyes and studied the name on the screen.

This seemed to be one of the employees he'd just interviewed...

-

From then on, Yang Wendi lived the kind of life countless girls could only envy-

Want to climb the rankings?

Whimper, and her white-robed master sweeps through the six directions, using both brains and brawn to carry her through. He even pulls off a spectacular feat at number one.

Want a new outfit?

Whimper, and her considerate master charges into battle. A limited-edition outfit that's no longer available is hers, while players across the game drown in envy.

-

Yang Wendi thought she'd spend her whole life tucked away in the virtual world endorsed by her idol, timidly passing her lonely remaining years in the false light of fantasy.

Until the game's half-anniversary festival, when she was invited to take part in an event as the top healer.

And there, beneath a flurry of flashing cameras, her idol Gao Yuan walked toward her.

Yang Wendi froze in panic. "B-boss!"

Gao Yuan's tall figure stopped before her. With a raised brow and a hint of affectionate teasing, he leaned down in full view of millions of people.

Yang Wendi stiffened all over. Gao Yuan bent close to her ear, his voice husky. "Not calling me Master anymore?"

#He parted the sea of people and came to me, reuniting with the boundless dream I had dreamed#

The first version of this blurb was written on August 21, 2023, and has been saved in a screenshot.

Reading guide:

1. A cool, calculating celebrity boss x an energetic, sunny employee

A game master who charges into love, completely lovestruck x an adorable newbie who is hopeless at games

2. There is a five-year age gap.

3. The heroine doesn't know her in-game master's identity at first.

4. One-on-one romance, both leads have only ever been with each other.

5. No real-life individuals inspired the characters.

6. There isn't much gameplay. The game mechanics are loosely based on common mobile games such as League of Legends, Fantasy Westward Journey, Justice Online, and A Chinese Ghost Story, but most of the setting is fictional.

----------------"The Spring Rain Abruptly Stopped"----------------

Before officially meeting Xie Huaiyi, Mai Li thought he was a rich playboy who gathered a crowd of hangers-on and was always being coaxed into paying for everything.

He was also someone she, with her poor family background, could never get close to.

Then, after the college entrance exams, a girl deliberately threw a cup of coffee at Xie Huaiyi in a KTV room.

Right in front of her, he took off the designer shirt that had cost tens of thousands and tossed it into the trash.

A few boys laughed and joked that rich kids sure knew how to spend money.

Mai Li happened to catch the scene as she came in to clean. She put down her rag and asked thoughtfully, "Do you have so much money you can afford to throw it away for fun?"

Xie Huaiyi stared at her in surprise. "...Huh?"

She looked at his handsome, bewildered face beneath the dim lights and stepped forward.

"Would you buy me a cup of coffee?"

"I've never had coffee before."

Xie Huaiyi was baffled and was just about to refuse, but Mai Li's eyes were unusually earnest.

The room's garish spinning lights fell across her fair face. His heart suddenly sped up, and he answered without thinking, "Sure."

After they'd finished their coffee, Mai Li turned to him and asked, "Then do you know how to check into a hotel?"

"What?" Xie Huaiyi frowned.

"I've never been to a hotel either." Mai Li undid the top of her shirt, revealing a glimpse of her pale skin, and stared straight at him. "Would you take me?"

Xie Huaiyi understood what she was suggesting.

*

Even before they met, Xie Huaiyi had heard of Mai Li. She was supposedly a boring top student who looked down on everyone, with a pretty face but a strange personality.

But after getting to know her, Xie Huaiyi found that she wasn't boring at all. In certain ways, she was quite fiery.

She just loved money so much that everything else came second.

But that was fine. Xie Huaiyi had money to spare.

He showered Mai Li with money, bought her luxury goods, and got her the best musical instruments, all so he could invite her out on weekends and spend the night with her in a hotel suite, going at it until dawn.

His friends teased him for being driven by lust, and even Xie Huaiyi himself thought they were attracted to each other purely physically.

Until, after one performance, Mai Li came down from the stage and slapped away his outstretched hand. "Let's break up."

Xie Huaiyi froze. "...Why?"

"I don't need money anymore," Mai Li said coldly. "You're no use to me now."

Something inside Xie Huaiyi suddenly caved in.

*

After saving up a little money, Mai Li thought she could live the life she'd dreamed of as a girl.

But she always felt that something was missing.

Frustrated, she returned to her old city to rest for a while and teach children, hoping to unwind.

When she looked up, she saw that the person there to pick up one of the children was her ex-boyfriend, whom she hadn't seen in years.

Theme: Loving you is the pursuit of my entire life