I'll Share One Earbud with You

[1]

That year, as wind and snow swept across the land, Nan Mingyue came to the capital for the first time to take part in the reality show Trading Lives.

There, she also met a spirited young man.

In high school, Wen Qingli was a celebrated figure at Boya No. 1 High School, heir to the Hengtian Group, fabulously wealthy, proud, and arrogant, never willing to pause for anything.

Yet during that blazing summer of his first year, outside a cramped, damp alley, Nan Mingyue happened to hear the boy threaten someone in a cold voice.

“Even if the show is scripted, you can't keep forcing her to play the villain.”

Later, she heard rumors about Wen Qingli again.

They said he'd pulled his money from an ad campaign, that he'd beaten someone in a fit of temper, that he'd fallen for someone.

There were plenty of rumors, but Nan Mingyue believed only one:

He was very much in love with her.

[2]

No one ever imagined Nan Mingyue and Wen Qingli would have anything to do with each other.

One was a wealthy, free-spirited, rebellious, rule-breaking star at school who had never taken any of her admirers seriously.

The other was a quiet, inarticulate nobody from a remote town, always happy to sit in the back row.

Then filming for the show was halted, and Nan Mingyue was about to return to the mountains. Wen Qingli began pursuing her openly once more.

During the rainy season, after evening study, the classroom was empty.

In the darkness, moonlight streamed through the window and lit one corner.

Wen Qingli leaned against the wall and gazed at her in silence, his voice trembling. “Can't you stay?”

“I told you, I would protect you for the rest of your life.”

Her long lashes trembled, but in the end, she shook her head.

On a day of heavy snowfall, she left without hesitation and never once looked back.

[3]

When they met again, he was a rising star in tech, and she was an intern.

Across the surging crowd, Nan Mingyue met his gaze. Her heart tightened, and she quickly lowered her head and looked away.

Wen Qingli pushed through the noisy throng of people eager to curry favor with him and strode up to her. Staring straight at her, his voice trembling, he ground out, “Nan Mingyue, how dare you show your face?”

Only later did Nan Mingyue learn that he'd waited for her to appear through countless days and nights.

Just like the song he wrote for her:

“You're the one I miss, day and night, through every turning of time.”

Back then, her headphones shut out the gossip, and she hid her feelings behind them.

Now, she shared one earbud with him, letting him see the feelings she had kept to herself.

A jaded, devoted man x a well-behaved, sensitive girl

The first half is about bullying and healing; the second half is an urban reunion.

Theme: Beauty.