[Thanks to all the lovely readers who bookmarked and commented!]
Six years of knowing each other could not compete with a single Polaroid. After breaking up with her boyfriend of four years, Shi Shuying came to a waterside town in Jiangnan.
During her seven-day vacation, when she cut off all contact with the outside world, Jiangnan's misty rain soothed Shi Shuying's heart and brought a new splash of color into her life.
A tiny ball of dough, a world of exquisite detail. In the hands of a skilled artisan, every lump of flour is given new life. Deeply drawn to this traditional craft, refined over centuries, Shi Shuying traveled from Xingtang to Xunxiang and found Old Li, the inheritor of the art who had been buried in the dust of time.
Shi Shuying bought her tools and paid three visits to his home, but never got to meet him. When she found the bookstore selling Old Li's work, all she saw was a young man lazily making coffee.
Shi Shuying used buying a book as an excuse to study Old Li's work in the bookstore, but she still couldn't get the hang of it.
"The pieces here are exquisite. They take years of solid practice to make. You can't do it," he said.
Shi Shuying smiled warmly. "May I ask who you are?"
"Old Li's grandson, Xie Qiufang." He smiled faintly.
Shi Shuying raised an eyebrow. "If I buy one of your books, will you teach me a trick?"
Xie Qiufang agreed. "Sure."
After eighteen years of learning dough figurine art, Xie Qiufang had never once liked this family tradition.
But when a girl walked into the shop one quiet afternoon, holding an umbrella and as immaculate as if untouched by dust, he was more grateful than ever that he'd spent those eighteen years learning it. He was glad she liked it.
Little by little, he used his craft to draw her into his life. Unable to hold back, Xie Qiufang invited Shi Shuying:
"I'll teach you everything the old man knows. How about becoming his granddaughter-in-law?"
Reader's guide:
1. An art teacher who loves dough figurines but can't find a master to teach her, and a bookstore owner who isn't interested in the craft but is descended from its inheritor.
2. Love at first sight for the male lead, while the female lead falls in love over time.
3. Sweet, tender, and slow-burn, with a gentle, unhurried romance.
4. The female lead has an ex.
My next book, To You, is coming soon. Please bookmark it!
Ning Tan is a laid-back florist with a pen pal in the same city.
She listens to her pen pal's stories and writes about her own life. Ning Tan likes this pen pal very much, so...
She accidentally met up with her online crush...
Pei Chang, you did that on purpose, didn't you?!
Pei Chang: ...I didn't. I swear.
Well, would you look at that. My pen pal is my first love!
A sweet, healing story about rekindled love.
Theme: Choose one thing and devote your whole life to it.
Are art teachers so busy?