Winter Ends, Spring Comes

After being invited to appear on the variety show Nature’s Companions, Rong Ji returns to Jianglin after eight years of studying abroad.

At the production launch banquet, the investor arrives late, impeccably dressed in a suit, his expression cool and aristocratic. He is the last person she ever expected to see on her first day back: Zhou Yingchuan, the boy she secretly loved in high school.

Over the years, all Rong Ji has heard about him is that he founded a tech company. She never expected him to invest in a charity variety show, let alone sit at the head of the table with the air of a complete stranger.

When his sharply arched brows and deep-set eyes turn her way, his gaze is both unfamiliar and impossible to read.

Rong Ji doesn’t care. Zhou Yingchuan has someone he loves, and she gave up her foolish hopes long ago.

There is no chance for them.

And yet, she runs into him again at a vacation homestay.

Zhou Yingchuan has shed the untouchable aura of a man representing the investors, and doesn’t mind her distant manner at all.

In an even voice, with the composure of someone who laid a perfect trap long ago, he easily coaxes her into taking a step toward him.

“Your contact information hasn’t changed, has it?”

“Let’s keep in touch.”

-

Seeing someone who once made your heart flutter can still make it flutter again.

Rong Ji doesn’t dare take that risk, especially since Zhou Yingchuan is still in close contact with the girl he liked in high school.

They avoid each other for a long time, but eventually meet again.

After a few glasses of bitter liquor, Zhou Yingchuan makes an excuse to leave.

Rong Ji is also forced to leave after a baseless rumor about her sparks gossip.

Before she can react, someone drags her into a dim private room.

Zhou Yingchuan has completely lost his composure. He won’t let her fall for anyone else.

Though they have no official relationship, he keeps closing in on her, pressing her with question after question:

“You’re avoiding me. Why?”

“Hasn’t it been obvious all along who I like?”

Bonus scene:

Rong Ji never really understood just how much Zhou Yingchuan loved her. She even doubted his feelings.

That is, until the first time she entered his study.

He holds her on his lap in a spacious office chair, but there is hardly room for her to move.

The chair slides wildly with their movements until it collides with the wall and comes to a stop.

As they lose themselves in each other, a huge oil painting he made for her hangs overhead, and plane tickets lie scattered across the floor.

Beside her face is the person who stole her heart at first sight, the one she could never forget.

And he is expressing his love with an utterly besotted look.

*Wildlife conservation expert × rising tech mogul

*Gentle and aloof × carefully laying his plans

Reader’s guide:

1. Both leads are virgins; one-on-one romance; happy ending

2. Slow burn | misunderstandings and push-pull tension | mutual secret crush becomes real

3. Imperfect protagonists

Blurb for the upcoming novel Shattered Stars

Jiang Man attends her school reunion as the Jiang family’s representative, seated front and center and drawing everyone’s attention.

Onstage, the elegant, handsome man looks straight ahead.

As he speaks with easy confidence, he seems relaxed and full of youthful vigor.

She takes a moment to look closely.

He is the scholarship student she saw a few days ago in her father’s office, the one who bowed his head so meekly he seemed utterly unremarkable.

*

Backstage, she stops the man she has only met twice.

After a brief moment of surprise, he looks just as he did the day they first met, without any apparent desire to curry favor. His voice is cool and flat. “Miss Jiang.”

Jiang Man suddenly smiles. He seems less boring than she had thought.

“Xue… Congjiang?” Her tone is playfully ambiguous, but she says his name perfectly clearly.

She tugs on his tie to make him bend down, then looks him steadily in the eye, as if admiring a precious jewel in her palm.

“Your name sounds like it was… made for me.”

-

To Xue Congjiang, Jiang Man is beautiful and refined, with an air of superiority.

But after getting to know her, he might have to choose a more barbed description: arrogant, narcissistic.

A princess adored by everyone, she assumes he will put up with everything, whether she is throwing a tantrum or laughing, cold or warm.

Xue Congjiang never thought to argue with her, but somewhere along the way, he stopped resisting altogether.

Until the Jiang family’s annual gala.

Xue Congjiang stands beside Jiang Man beneath the stage, listening to her father’s speech and to her confidently praising her childhood sweetheart, who has just returned from abroad.

“Maybe every man who gets close to me has an agenda, but he doesn’t, ”

Xue Congjiang gives an indifferent “Mm” and joins everyone around them in applauding.

When the speech ends, another piece of good news is announced.

The guests’ gazes and the spotlight converge on them. Xue Congjiang stands brilliantly in the light and turns to look at her, his expression inscrutable.

“Too bad I’m the one marrying you.”

Bonus scene:

Married life turns out better than Jiang Man expected.

They may not be in love like ordinary newlyweds, hearts in sync and sweetly devoted, but there is at least one thing she likes

Amid their shifting, rising and falling movements, Jiang Man suddenly asks him, “Do you know what gemstone suits you?”

The man slows slightly. She draws him closer by the shoulder and whispers in his ear, “Bodulise…”

“It’s famous for two things… Lover’s Cove above, and the mines below. What they mine is lover’s stone, but there’s very little of it…”

In her daze, Jiang Man hears Xue Congjiang ask, unable to hide his desire, “…Will you give it to me?”

*For you, the gemstones of Bodulise.

Playgirl heiress × chaste scholarship student

Jewelry designer × ambitious business student

Theme: Pursue what you love