The Second Pearl

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◆Absurd Romance is currently updating: a sharp-tongued, secretly softhearted tsundere capitalist x a seemingly docile but actually rebellious office worker. A modern fairytale of marriage first, love later. Check it out in my author profile and add it to your collection!

Blurb

1.

Is there anything more regretful than childhood sweethearts who missed their chance?

There is:

You don’t miss your chance, you reunite, but in the years apart, you’ve changed beyond recognition.

At sixteen, Ye Mingzhu was as ordinary as could be. But the frail boy who used to follow her around had blossomed into a dazzling star everyone envied.

His looks and grades alike made him the center of attention.

And her?

She knew what everyone called her behind her back, in mocking voices: that pig, that fat girl, she’s so disgustingly fat…

Even if she told people that He Yang had once fought someone for her, they’d only think she was joking.

Mingzhu? More like Piggy.

2.

After they reunited, Ye Mingzhu assumed they’d never have anything to do with each other again.

After all, He Yang might not even remember what she looked like.

Then he happened to catch her in an embarrassing moment.

After being mocked again, she ran off alone and paced the hallway, holding back tears as she told herself over and over: Don’t cry. You can’t cry.

Suddenly, someone called her name from behind.

The boy stood on the stairs, lifting his eyes slightly. A flicker of confusion appeared in his cool, dark gaze. “Ye, have we met before?”

Ye Mingzhu lowered her head, but her heart pounded.

A few seconds later, she deliberately put on a surprised expression and laughed it off. “No way. Lots of people look like me.”

“Really!”

3.

Ye Mingzhu insisted she didn’t know him, convinced she was doing an excellent job pretending.

He Yang seemed not to recognize her either.

For some reason, though, they kept getting assigned to the same cleaning team during their class’s duty week.

At the volleyball court, the teacher would casually pair them up, too.

Even the little toys on their schoolbags were rumored to be a couple.

Gossip ran wild, and even her friends coyly asked what was going on.

Ye Mingzhu could only grit her teeth and explain: “He Yang is just a nice guy. He’s… helpful, handsome, kindhearted, and considerate. Really!”

When the boy heard about it, he grabbed her schoolbag after class, pulled her over to him, and drawled lazily, “Ye Mingzhu, how long are you planning to keep playing ostrich?”

Also known as: “When Will My Stubborn, Chubby Childhood Sweetheart Finally Admit She Knows Me?” “Fine, If the Mountain Won’t Come to Me, I’ll Go to the Mountain” and “Let’s See How Long You Can Keep Pretending.”

Reader’s Notes:

1. There is no rivalry between the female lead and Cheng Ling. This is a story about two girls understanding each other and learning to accept themselves.

2. The story is set under the old college entrance exam system, with students choosing between arts and sciences. The timeline is around 2016.

3. Childhood sweethearts / reunion after a long separation / a touch of ensemble cast / coming-of-age healing / slow-burn everyday life

4. The blurb was first drafted on February 6, 2024, and revised on August 5, 2024. The premise is unchanged, and screenshots have been saved.

Absurd Romance is updating. Blurb below

1.

The year she turned twenty-six, Tong Hua failed at changing jobs and ended up unemployed.

The job market was fiercely competitive. Employers scrutinized not only education, looks, and age, but also whether applicants were married or had children.

To land her dream offer, Tong Hua decided to present herself in the interview as a married woman whose husband had died.

“Fate was cruel. My husband died young in a car accident, right when we were happiest…”

“I’ll never find another perfect man like him, with looks, abs, and income that never faltered…”

“On so many lonely nights, I can’t help remembering the happy days we shared…”

At the end, she clutched her chest and said sadly, “No one could ever compare to him. I’ll never fall in love again or get married, and I’ll never have children with another man. All I want now is to lose myself in work…”

After she got the job, she grew closer to her colleagues, and her story about her late husband became more and more detailed.

For example, her WeChat profile picture still showed a hint of her late husband, and seeing flowers reminded her that he was allergic to pollen.

She even gave her late husband the sort of glamorous job title you’d hear in a romance drama, so she could fend off sexual harassment at work: she was a widow.

It was all perfectly convincing, until the company was acquired and her colleagues looked suspiciously at the newly appointed CEO.

“Six foot one, prestigious university graduate, distinguished, sharp features, a beauty mark beneath his eye, allergic to pollen, never takes sugar in his coffee, general manager of a tech company… Tong Hua, how is he not exactly like your dead husband?”

2.

Xie Qianyu had been cold-faced and cold-hearted since childhood. Women’s affection and his parents’ nagging about marriage only annoyed him.

At twenty-eight, he finally followed his family’s arrangements and registered his marriage to the daughter of his parents’ friends, becoming a married man.

But only the two of them knew it was a contract marriage, hidden from both sets of parents.

They would divorce amicably as agreed, one year later.

Not long after the wedding, Xie Qianyu went abroad for work. He returned to the country three months ago.

On his first day at the new company, he heard that he looked remarkably like one of his subordinates’ late husbands.

Xie Qianyu frowned. “…Ridiculous.”

Until he saw her reminiscing about her late husband in front of her colleagues, speaking mournfully with a sorrowful expression.

Her colleagues sighed and urged her to move on.

Xie Qianyu stared at her for a long moment, raised his chin, and called her into his office. With a playful scoff, he said, “Your late husband, the one you were so devoted to? Tong Hua, did you never consider that I might come back?”

/Good news: The boss is my husband ^_^

/Bad news: We’re getting divorced OVO!!!

A sharp-tongued, secretly softhearted tsundere capitalist x a seemingly docile but actually rebellious office worker

Theme: A pearl can never be dulled