A Marriage Written in Books

This novel features [Unconventional Skits]

The first time he crossed thousands of kilometers, he stood outside Xia Yang's home.

The sharp-eyed neighbor auntie asked Ji Yanting in her soft Jiangnan accent, "Who are you looking for?"

Xia Yang hurriedly pulled the stunned man inside, then later calmly saw him out.

Xia Yang: "The aunties around here are even more meddlesome than the aunties in Chaoyang. I can't deal with them."

A few months later, he crossed thousands of kilometers again and stood outside Xia Yang's home once more.

The neighbor auntie smoothly switched to standard Mandarin with a southern accent. "Here to see Yangyang?"

Before Ji Yanting could answer, the person who'd kept him outside cut in mercilessly: "Just a friend. He's passing through on a business trip."

The man was left at a loss, his face turning as dark as the bottom of a wok...

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The blurb begins below

1.

Xia Yang is cool and distant, and her field of study is obscure.

She devotes herself to calligraphy, but a family tragedy strikes before she graduates.

She gives up an overseas exchange program and is rejected by an art institute...

In the midst of hardship,

a stranger she has run into twice helps her time and again.

She hears that he is devoted, keeping an eternal lamp lit for his beloved.

Everyone says he is lovesick, observing vows for her sake.

Only when he stands before her holding a marriage certificate

does she realize

that every meeting after their first

was part of his careful pursuit.

2.

They say that accident took half of Ji Yanting's life.

His beloved became a cinnabar mole, and in the end, an eternal lamp he kept burning at a temple.

He spent six years abroad, devoted to the study of religious psychology.

At long last, he came back,

but lived like an ascetic observing vows,

going to the temple every month to listen to the scriptures and learn the Dharma.

No one could tell whether this was devotion or an attempt to sever his attachments.

Then a post suddenly appeared on his normally blank Moments feed:

"Having met my beloved, how could I not be glad? I wish to spend the rest of my life with her."

In the photo, the ancient trees outside the temple cast sparse shadows, and a cool, quiet girl in plain clothes stood gracefully beneath them.

Only then did everyone understand that the old flame had reignited.

There was no cinnabar mole.

Only that cool fragrance could captivate his soul.

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[Cool beauty studying calligraphy x investor with a secret identity, an associate professor of religious psychology]

[Cool-faced, soft-hearted catlike woman x deep and inscrutable, wolfish older man]

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* The heroine is an unconventional marriage skeptic, with an avoidant mindset caused by family issues.

* The hero was previously engaged, but there is no white moonlight or cinnabar mole.

* The hero has a slight disability in his right hand. Read with care if this bothers you.

* Age gap of 11+ years / happy ending / healing

* The hero's profession involves religion, but the story barely touches on it. He doesn't wear prayer beads and isn't a domineering CEO. This only means there is no such characterization in this story, with no other meaning or implication.

* The story still leans toward realism.

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Blurb for the upcoming novel "Moth Chasing the Sun"

When Xu Jiaoe put in her contact lenses,

she noticed a small white bump growing in the tear duct of her left eye.

A few days later, when she took out her contact lenses,

she found the white bump was still there.

So, in the ophthalmology clinic: "What! A blocked tear duct? A stone?!"

Chen Xi, who was used to seeing such things, met Xu Jiaoe, who was making a fuss over it.

At the time, Xu Jiaoe, who kept track of her loneliness level,

lay on the examination bed with her watery, peach-blossom eyes looking pitiful.

Chen Xi, wearing a mask, reassured her. "It's a minor procedure. Don't be nervous."

Xu Jiaoe thought, At least the doctor is pretty gentle.

The needle in Chen Xi's hand moved steadily toward her eye.

The woman on the examination bed forgot all the instructions she'd been given and instinctively grabbed the hand above her eye.

Naturally, he sternly stopped her. "Don't touch me."

Xu Jiaoe stayed fully conscious and terrified throughout the procedure.

She covered half her left cheek with one hand and completely changed her first impression of Dr. Chen.

She took back her earlier thoughts: he was a heartless executioner.

Later, the tables turned.

Whenever Dr. Chen got up early for work and leaned in to ask for a gentle kiss,

the woman in bed would weakly snap, "Don't touch me!"

Dr. Chen was aggrieved, yet thoroughly enjoyed it. Even her morning grumpiness was adorable.

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He and she

are like a tree atop a graceful mountain and a flower growing wild and free.

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[Steady, gentle ophthalmologist x easygoing, straightforward IELTS teacher]

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* Six-year age gap

* Realistic / everyday life / happy ending

* There may still be small adjustments before writing begins, but the general direction and tone will stay the same.

* The title was inspired by the poem "Moth Chasing the Sun" in Jung's Symbols of Transformation: the moth hopes to win even a moment of the sun's intoxicating favor. (Translation)

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Theme: Love comes when you least expect it, and love can heal without medicine.