My Secret Crush Echoes Back

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[My next novel will be Twilight City's Dawn, a contemporary urban crime thriller. See the blurb at the bottom.]

Gentle, older, scheming CEO x prickly, younger, aloof secretary

Zhou Shuhe is the CEO of the Zhou family's perfume group in Mingcheng.

A fragrance called "Camphorwood Echo" made the Zhou family's perfume famous in the industry.

At the time, Li Yusheng was a recent college graduate just starting out.

With no experience or connections, she became Zhou Shuhe's personal secretary.

The industry buzzed with speculation.

Only Li Yusheng knew that she had spent sixteen years in the Zhou household,

and that Zhou Shuhe, the eldest daughter of the Zhou family, had been by her side throughout her childhood and youth.

-

Li Yusheng's youth ended when she was sixteen.

On her sixteenth birthday, Zhou Shuhe kicked her out.

The winter winds and snow in Mingcheng were bitterly cold,

but the cutting words were even more painful.

"Don't let me see you in Mingcheng again."

Li Yusheng really did have some pride. In a fit of anger, she stayed away for seven years.

When she left, she took Mingcheng's winter with her. Not a single snowflake fell there for seven whole years.

-

The year Li Yusheng returned, Mingcheng saw its first snowfall in seven years.

On a snowy night, at Nanyi Residence,

lights glittered like scattered flecks of gold, and colored glass shone like crystal frost.

The woman seated at a table nearby warmed the heart Li Yusheng had kept cold for seven years.

She wore a single-breasted qipao with a camphorwood incense pattern, revealing a long, pale neck.

On her feet were soft-soled brocade slippers, and a slender cigarette rested between her fingers.

Her graceful figure seemed boneless. When her fingertip casually brushed the white jade button at her collar, ripples stirred in Li Yusheng's heart.

Her eyes held a shattered galaxy, deep and unfathomable.

Later, beneath the gauzy curtains, they spent a night in tender intimacy.

Li Yusheng couldn't help asking, "Why call it Camphorwood Echo?"

"Many years ago, I planted a camphor tree and waited quietly for it to blossom and bear fruit."

"In my barren, lightless life, you are the ultimate meaning at the end of the wasteland."

Reading Guide:

1. CEO, age 31 x secretary, age 23 (eight-year age gap). Happy ending, one-on-one, both leads are each other's first and only partners.

2. There is no romance before the leads are adults. It's more or less a story about an unrequited crush.

3. Everyday-life focus, slow burn.

4. The leads aren't perfect, and the plot is melodramatic.

5. Subscription rate above 80 percent.

6. The author isn't a professional, and this isn't a business-warfare story. No writing advice, please. Read with caution if that bothers you. If you drop the novel, there's no need to let me know. Thank you.

[Blurb posted on: 2023.8.28]

Twilight City's Dawn [Crime Thriller]

Pairing: upright, levelheaded criminal investigation team captain x gentle, mysterious art gallery owner

(Xu Enqin x Cheng Baoyi)

Blurb:

The spring her father died in custody, Xu Enqin met Cheng Baoyi at an art gallery called Eden.

Outside, the rain fell damp and heavy. Inside, Bach's piano music played. Cheng Baoyi was a suspect, but showed not the slightest sign of panic. She even began explaining Christian doctrine to the police.

Complex, dangerous, hard to read.

That was Xu Enqin's first impression of Cheng Baoyi.

-

As they got to know each other, Xu Enqin discovered that Cheng Baoyi was every bit as dangerous as she'd thought. She had concealed the truth from the police and told an enormous lie.

What Xu Enqin hadn't expected was that the painful truth behind that lie would have something to do with her.

That day, Xu Enqin went to ask her to paint a portrait of a suspect for the police.

Cheng Baoyi smiled, handed the photo back, and shook her head. "I never paint portraits."

Much later, Xu Enqin returned to the gallery and unexpectedly found a portrait of herself from nine years ago beneath a black canvas.

Soft, delicate brushstrokes had captured her in the brightest, most vibrant years of her life. Only then did Xu Enqin finally remember the memories forgotten in a corner of her mind...

-

In the hardest, most helpless year of Cheng Baoyi's life, she met two benefactors during the rainy season: a police officer who saved her life, and Xu Enqin.

Later, another rainy season came around.

The rain-soaked night was tender and intimate.

The two of them lay together on a little bed in Eden's attic.

Xu Enqin asked, "Was he the first person you trusted?"

A trace of tenderness shone in Cheng Baoyi's eyes. She couldn't bring herself to look away from Xu Enqin. After a long silence, she replied, "No. You were."

"There are moments in life that seem to determine everything that follows, like a light suddenly coming on in the night of a big city.

Just as you are, to me, the first ray of dawn in this twilight city."

One-on-one, both leads are each other's first and only partners, happy ending.

Theme: Face adversity without forgetting your original purpose.