A Bite of Green Plum Candy

[Beautiful, sensitive heroine x roguishly handsome, free-spirited hero]

[Boarding together / childhood sweethearts / rekindled romance / winning him back]

The next book, Mistaking My Crush for a Male Model, launches on June 8. If you're interested, please add it to your favorites~

1.

During the summer of her second year of high school, Jiang Zhining transferred back to Mocheng and boarded at her father's friend's house. It was there that she saw Chen Xunyan again, three years later.

In the noisy hallway, sunlight slipped through the gaps and fell on his tousled black hair. Chen Xunyan stood outside in a white short-sleeved school uniform, idly playing with the black beads in his hand.

When she passed by after completing the enrollment paperwork, he merely raised his weary eyes to glance at her, then continued chatting with someone else as if nothing mattered.

She thought they'd pretend to be strangers at school until graduation.

Unexpectedly, during a fitness test, she ran too fast and twisted her ankle. When Chen Xunyan saw, he dropped the timer in his hand, bent down, and scooped her up.

Jiang Zhining looked around helplessly at all the curious eyes. Her cheeks flushed, but she steadied her breathing and pretended to be distant. "Thank you, Chen."

Chen Xunyan didn't reply. As he carried her past the crowd toward the infirmary, he crushed the green plum candy in his mouth, looked at her with a smile, and said in his usual carefree tone, "Jiang Zhining, you were helping me with my homework last night. Why are you acting like we don't know each other today?"

But later, they parted ways again.

2.

Years later, by a twist of fate, the two ended up living in the same house. They were ignoring each other when, while tidying up, Jiang Zhining happened to find round-trip plane tickets tucked inside Chen Xunyan's notebook.

In a daze, she realized that the coincidences from before hadn't been coincidences at all. Someone had done so much for her where she couldn't see.

Slow to understand her own feelings, Jiang Zhining finally caught on and decided to make the first move. After that, she kept finding little ways to flirt with him.

Seeing her act so warmly, Chen Xunyan leaned against the doorframe in his loungewear, lifting his eyes lazily. "Even rabbits don't eat the grass by their own burrow."

Jiang Zhining set down what she was holding and met his dark eyes. Her red lips curved in a radiant smile. "Then I'll eat it twice."

[You were my childhood sweetheart, you're the one who appeared out of nowhere, and you're all I see.]

Reader's guide:

1. Both leads are sexually inexperienced, one-on-one romance, happy ending.

2. There's a tiny bit of angst in the middle, but overall it's sweet~

3. The story is a slow burn, starting at school and moving to the city. The school portion isn't very long, and they won't date while they're at school.

Theme: Always love yourself.