After the Top-Tier Star Was Used and Abandoned

[In 2026, I'm finally writing this one! Come see my gorgeous character design, everyone OvO]

Blurb:

Lou Qingran became a top-tier star almost as soon as she debuted. Her looks were striking and flamboyant, but she was famously aloof and unsociable in the industry.

Rumor had it that she'd once loved someone she could never have.

Some time later, Lou Qingran suddenly canceled half a year's worth of engagements without a second thought, lowering her fee to take a role in a shoestring-budget film with no big-name stars or production company.

Her fans exploded as soon as the news came out.

On set, when her manager asked her what was going on, Lou Qingran didn't answer. Her gaze settled on someone in the distance.

At the end of her line of sight, a woman looked listless. Her pale fingertips caught a snowflake drifting through the air. Her beautiful features were sharp and cool, cutting through the misty early-winter morning of the small town.

Her manager suddenly remembered that absurd rumor.

...Maybe it wasn't just a rumor.

No one knew that the day before she joined the production, Lou Qingran had looked at the familiar name on the script and spent the whole night laughing and crying.

.

After the film wrapped, Lou Qingran appeared on a variety show. The host asked what had drawn her to the film.

Lou Qingran lowered her eyes and thought for a long moment.

So the person I love, who used me and then abandoned me, might look at me one more time.

After the show aired, the hashtag #NanchaoPleaseHugLouQingranSheLooksLikeShesAboutToBreak# topped the trending list that day.

At the top-tier star's home, the woman who saw the trending topic lowered her eyelids and slowly raised a hand to cover the ambiguous red marks on the side of her neck.

...How had she used and abandoned her?

.

Nanchao was a damp rain falling over her heart.

From that winter when she was seventeen until she was twenty-three, the endless rain finally blossomed into flowers everywhere.

Reading guide:

1. One-on-one romance, both leads are virgins, happy ending, angsty healing romance, seven-year age gap, younger woman.

2. Aloof, world-weary writer x a star who's flamboyant in public but puppy-like in private

3. This is the author letting loose, and it probably won't be very long. It starts from the pursuer's point of view, and may later switch to dual perspectives. See the author's note in chapter one for content warnings. Muah OvO

4. After thinking it over, I removed the original ABO setting. Readers who like ABO can check out my other works. This one won't have ABO.

Theme: Be independent, strong, and love yourself