Reunited as the Autumn Rain Fell

[My other novel, Seven Herbs, is complete | Next up: The Story of My First Love in Lingchuan. Synopsis below~]

Chibi-style high school teacher × substitute teacher with a master plan to win her back

Pride and prejudice between the Chinese and math teachers

1.

When a colleague unexpectedly falls ill, Luo Shan is thrust into the role of homeroom teacher for a first-year high school class.

On the evening school resumes after the break, the substitute teacher is late. Luo Shan assumes he won’t show up.

Then, in a sudden turn, a man stands calmly under the lights. The awkwardness of his student days is gone, replaced by a quiet, scholarly composure. He seems born to stand at the front of a classroom.

A student suddenly asks how to write the new teacher’s name.

After a long silence, Qi Lan slowly answers, “Qi, as in the Qilian Mountains; Lan, as in ‘where the lamplight grows dim,’ with the water radical.”

The students go wild shipping them: Qi Lan × Luo Shan, a perfect match!

Luo Shan is so embarrassed her toes curl. “Don’t make things up. We’re not close.”

After class, Luo Shan cheerfully makes small talk and asks her old classmate why he never accepted her WeChat request.

Qi Lan lowers his head and looks at Luo Shan without expression. “We’re not close.”

2.

One day after they’ve started to thaw, Luo Shan complains that after getting into a top university, Qi Lan looked down on ordinary classmates like them.

Qi Lan is exasperated. “You’re the one who looked down on me! I added you, and you ignored me!”

Luo Shan: “When did you ever add me?”

Qi Lan blurts out, “February 14, 201X, at 13:14:20.”

Luo Shan is stunned. “It’s been seven years, man!”

Then she suddenly remembers something. “Did you refuse to add me before just to get back at me?”

Qi Lan gives a cold snort and pretends to be dead.

Luo Shan sucks in a breath. They’ve known each other for so long. Could he have secretly kept a little notebook of all my embarrassing moments?

3.

Qi Lan really does have a little notebook.

For example: The first day we met, she said we weren’t close. Good.

Then: She accused me of skipping work and threatened to report me. Good.

And then: She told me to get plenty of rest and wear more clothes because of the temperature swings. That’s…

She finally admitted she loves me! Sob!

What little schemes could a big shot possibly have? He’s just a pure-hearted warrior who traveled a thousand miles for love.

Manual scene break

Synopsis for The Story of My First Love in Lingchuan:

1.

First love is a scene scented with camphor trees.

Green shadows by the window, cicadas singing in summer, an old fan rattling overhead.

The boy’s pen scratches on without pause, each stroke tapping innocently into Xiao Fei’s heart.

But when they meet again, everything goes wrong. She’s always at her most disheveled whenever he sees her.

Xiao Fei thinks sadly that Xia Chengqi must not like wild girls.

2.

Xia Chengqi remembers clearly how hot it was on the day of the class placement exam, and how a strange girl sat behind him.

A huge piece of toilet paper was stuck to her forehead, marked with ink from a gel pen like a talisman.

Xia Chengqi secretly laughs. It’s a little funny, but also…

pretty cute.

Love at first sight + mutual secret crush

“Xiao Fei from Class 2, Grade 12, don’t hide in the bathroom crying. Come back and go over your mistakes. I’ll wait for you.”

Theme: True love above all