Xu Ruqi

When Xu Ruqi was a girl, she imagined growing up to live a quiet, happy life with Jiang Chongfeng, the boy next door.

They had grown up together and shared the happiest, most carefree years of their lives. All she wanted was for every day to come to feel just as peaceful and smooth.

But when Xu Ruqi was fifteen, Jiang Chongfeng moved away with his family.

Before he left, he leaned over her courtyard wall and begged the tearful Xu Ruqi to talk to him again.

"Wait for me to come back. When I do, I'll come to your door and ask to marry you."

The handsome, awkward boy took the softhearted Xu Ruqi's hand and made his promise solemnly.

Xu Ruqi nodded.

But Jiang Chongfeng broke his promise.

It was as though he had never been part of Xu Ruqi's world. No letter or news ever came from far away.

Xu Ruqi waited until she was nineteen, when she could no longer face her family's hopeful gaze.

She could only break the promise she'd made to her fifteen-year-old self.

She climbed into the bridal sedan chair with her family's blessings and married Hua Zhaoye, who lived at the end of the lane.

She consoled herself that, no matter who her husband was, she could still live the life she wanted.

Her new husband was gentle, though frail, and treated her well enough.

Together they ran a shop selling candied fruit, and Xu Ruqi threw herself into it with all her heart.

If things had gone on that way, Xu Ruqi might have lived the peaceful life she'd once dreamed of as a girl.

If her husband's family hadn't hidden his illness from her.

If her husband hadn't died.

If Jiang Chongfeng hadn't reappeared in her life on the very day she married, turning her world upside down.

If only none of that had happened.

* The main characters are ordinary people, not privileged elites. This is a love story about everyday life.

* The heroine grows over time. Give a well-behaved girl a little time.

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The next book is The Girl Offered to the Mountain God

A Li grew up in a small village nestled among the mountains. Her family had four members: A Li, her parents, and her younger brother.

She grew up in the mountains and had been able to wander freely through the dense forest since she was little.

A Li loved her mountains.

She also knew there was a god in the mountains.

When the mountain wind brushed against her, it was the god stroking her cheek. When dew fell onto her hair, it was the god playing a joke on her.

This was a secret between A Li and the god.

But every secret is bound to be discovered eventually.

The villagers realized there was a god in the mountains, and terror showed on their faces.

"It's a horrifying monster," they said.

The villagers wanted to offer the god a sacrifice, begging it to stop watching the mountains shrouded in mist.

They came to A Li's family.

Her parents refused to give up her younger brother, so she became the sacrifice.

A Li wore her brightest clothes as she was offered to her god.

Through the mist, the god descended.

A Li was held tightly in a daze as a voice spoke beside her ear.

"Were you the one who kept calling for me...?"

The words came haltingly.

"A Li..."

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Theme: Even ordinary people have the right to seek happiness