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○ My new novel, One Hundred Percent Devotion, is now open for serialization. The blurb is at the bottom. Come check it out! A socially anxious woman who often buys coffee & a scheming café owner Married first, love later & a secret crush comes true 1. At twenty-six, Shu Zhiyi inexplicably enters a whirlwind marriage with Jiang Xuhuai, the owner of the new coffee shop near her home. It all happens by accident. But one unexpected thing leads to another, and one of them falls first. Shu Zhiyi tries hard to suppress her heart as it slowly sinks deeper, because she knows that, at the end of the day, this marriage is just a matter of mutual convenience. They had no choice; it was something they had to do. So when she learns Jiang Xuhuai’s true identity, she wants to graciously let him go. She thinks a divorce agreement is the best gift she can give him. Just as Shu Zhiyi is about to turn and leave, Jiang Xuhuai, seething with anger, speaks in a cold voice. “Shu Zhiyi, is it impossible for me to warm your heart?” She turns her head, her eyelashes trembling. “Let’s end it here.” They part on bad terms. Parallel lines were never meant to intersect. But then, in a deserted corner on a snowy night, Jiang Xuhuai pins Shu Zhiyi against the wall, their shadows tangled together. As their breaths mingle, the man forcefully turns her face back toward him. Though the world knows him as cold and distant, his eyes are bloodshot now. His hoarse voice spills out in a desperate plea. “Could you give me some? Please?” Knowing what he means, Shu Zhiyi still can’t help asking softly, “Give you some what?” Jiang Xuhuai lowers his head and presses his lips to her neck, his warm breath brushing her ear. “Your love.” “Just a little.” 2. That day, on a drowsy summer afternoon, Shu Zhiyi opens the iron box hidden deep away. It is filled with the letters Jiang Xuhuai has written to her over the past fourteen years. He never asks her to write back, but every letter is full of longing. She reads them one by one, her eyes growing misty, then calls Jiang Xuhuai. Trying to hold back her tears, she asks, “Was it hard waiting for me all this time?” The person on the other end of the line is stunned. After a long pause, he answers gently, “If it’s you, I could wait any length of time without getting tired.” [In theory, we shouldn’t be in love. But you create one unexpected event after another, until love pours in and our breaths entwine.] 3. “It was an ordinary afternoon, when I was twelve, and a ray of light shone in. Life is so long, and nothing ever seems quite right, but the moment she appeared, I felt as if I came alive.” Jiang Xuhuai “I rarely win, so I don’t dare to gamble. The ending often leaves me disappointed. But that day, I met someone who led me out of a long rainy season, step by step. That rain left my world moldy. I want sunshine. I want him to be my sun.” Shu Zhiyi *Sweet romance, happy ending *The career and psychology details are based on information from the internet, so please don’t take them too seriously. *I’ll try to update daily unless something comes up. If I need to take a day off, I’ll pin a notice in the comments. I often fix typos and edit the story in the middle of the night, so don’t worry about it. *The heroine is mildly socially anxious at first, and she really is socially anxious, so she can be a little timid. Give her time and she’ll gradually become confident and radiant. *You can criticize the author, but please don’t criticize the two leads. (Please don’t criticize the author either, I’m sensitive and cry easily, sob.) Next story blurb One Hundred Percent Devotion ◎ Childhood friends / reunited after a breakup / mutual secret crush / foster-family trope ◎ Energetic, scatterbrained little sun x cold-faced, calculating Doberman 1. Jiang Wansheng first met Qi Chen when she was eight. It was a sweltering summer, with cicadas making a racket. His stepmother had kicked him out. There was a constant stream of insults from inside the stairwell. The boy stood there expressionless. But when he heard the words “jinx,” the hands at his sides clenched tighter, as if he were holding back. Jiang Wansheng didn’t understand that boys and girls should keep their distance. She cautiously took his hand. “We’ll live together from now on.” After that, Qi Chen lived with the Jiang family. Once her friends found out, they kept warning Jiang Wansheng to stay away from him. Anyone could see the possessiveness in his eyes whenever he looked at her. Jiang Wansheng didn’t believe them. Her human-shaped pillow was clearly so well-behaved. Until that rainy night beneath the plane trees Jiang Wansheng held up a white umbrella and saw, around the corner, her friend lying on the ground, barely alive. Qi Chen stood in the shadows, his eyes dark, blood-red marks covering the bulging veins on the back of his hand. He lifted his eyes and watched Jiang Wansheng tremble and back away, then slowly held out a hand. In a hoarse voice, he whispered as if begging her, “Wansheng, please don’t be afraid of me, okay?” 2. They met again at the airport. On her first day back in the country, Jiang Wansheng caught sight of a familiar figure. Qi Chen had shed the awkwardness of youth. As a rising star in tech, he was now untouchable, dressed in a dark suit with an air of cool distinction. Jiang Wansheng, acting on impulse, stopped his car, then froze, not knowing what to say. Just then, the man turned to look at her, his expression indifferent and his gaze distant. “After all these years, Miss Jiang, do you still plan to treat me like an obedient puppy?” At that moment, Jiang Wansheng understood that they could never go back to how things were. But she never expected what happened one day later. Jiang Wansheng went home to humor her parents and meet a potential match. At dinner, she glanced toward Qi Chen, who sat off to the side. He toyed with a lighter, looking relaxed and occasionally joining in with a laugh. He seemed not to care at all. Jiang Wansheng felt a pang of sadness. As she was about to leave, someone suddenly pulled her into a secluded corner. “Was the blind date fun?” The man’s thin lips brushed behind her ear, as if to leave a mark, making her suddenly think of that innocent summer night when she was eighteen. Jiang Wansheng instinctively turned her head. “Don’t. Mom and Dad will see.” “Afraid they’ll see?” Qi Chen gripped her chin and tilted her face up, his thumb tracing her lips. His eyes narrowed as he asked, “When you bit me last night, why weren’t you afraid someone would see?” [When someone is intensely attached to another person, they give off a special scent. It is familiar, unique, and one hundred percent irreplaceable.] Message: Never forget to love yourself.