Red Shoes and Studded Shoes

A gorgeous, poised actress and a handsome, flamboyant athlete. College sweethearts break up, then rekindle their romance. Older woman-younger man romance, with a three-year age gap. Updated daily at noon.

This story features only competition between women in sports, not rivalry over men. But there is plenty of competition between men throughout. The younger guy works like crazy, fighting for his place and beating away every man around her before finally earning his title.

Neither is the other's first love, and both have dated other people before. If that bothers you, feel free to skip this one.

Synopsis:

When she was 22, Yu Ya met 18-year-old Tao Wenchang.

"Hey, gorgeous, give me your contact info!" Tao Wenchang had just asked another upperclasswoman for her phone number. Turning around, he fluttered over to Yu Ya like a flirtatious butterfly, making a show of himself beside her.

"No." Yu Ya didn't indulge boys like him. She turned him down coldly.

Dating a younger guy? Not a chance... Though maybe just once wouldn't hurt.

Half a year later, during a large lecture, Yu Ya secretly hooked her little finger around Tao Wenchang's.

The young man couldn't resist her teasing. Without even a moment's hesitation, he turned his hand over and clasped hers, closing his fingers around it with a mix of boldness and practiced ease. He warmed her cold hand in his burning palm. He kept facing the blackboard, giving his girlfriend his profile, unable to hold back a smile.

At 29, Yu Ya was invited to take part in a sports competition reality show, where she came face-to-face with Tao Wenchang for the first time in six years, since their breakup.

"You look gorgeous, sis. Give me a chance to put us back together." Twenty-six-year-old Tao Wenchang sat beside her again, swinging the ring finger no one was holding.

Getting back together? No way... Though maybe just once wouldn't hurt?

Half a year later, Tao Wenchang buried his face in the crook of her neck and asked, knowingly pushing his luck, "You're finally going to make it official this time, right, sis?"

Notes:

* No real-life entertainment industry figures served as inspiration.

* Tao Wenchang doesn't stink. Chang is sweet-smelling, diligently using perfume every day as part of his beauty routine.

* The entertainment industry elements are all imagined, so don't take them too seriously.

Feel free to save these upcoming stories in "My Works, My Responsibility (Romance)":

1. "The Flightless Bird and the Chinese Parasol Tree."

A story of mutual redemption between an 18-year-old girl and a 20-year-old tattoo artist.

Synopsis:

Gu Xiaozheng is a rare talent in the tattoo industry. At just 20, he tattoos other people but has no ink on his own body.

His fair, cool, and imposing air draws many clients to his shop. In his hands, there isn't a client he can't tattoo.

Until one day, as rain poured down, someone pounded hard on the locked iron door of his tattoo shop.

When he opened it, he found a thin, frail girl outside. Her school uniform was soaked through, her long hair clinging to her clothes, and she clutched 300 crumpled yuan in her hand.

"Give me a tattoo. If this isn't enough, I'll save up the rest," the girl said, her face deathly pale and her eyes holding a cold, world-weary look.

"I don't serve minors. Get lost." Gu Xiaozheng paid her no mind, assuming she was just a rebellious girl from the high school next door, looking to get a tattoo to seem grown-up.

The next day, he put the "No minors" sign back up by the door. Surely no more high schoolers would come by looking to get chewed out.

But a few days later, he found the girl at another tattoo artist's station. He hauled her down by the arm, twisted it behind her back, and kicked her into his own shop.

"You're underage! Why are you getting tattooed? Do you even want to take the college entrance exam? Or the civil service exam?"

It was the first time he'd ever yelled at a girl.

But despite her frail appearance, her voice was even steadier than his. "If I get a tattoo, no one will dare bully me. Then I can take the college entrance exam."

Gu Xiaozheng froze.

"What's your name?" Gu Xiaozheng asked again.

The girl raised her thin eyelids. Her voice was like a sharpened blade of snow, flat and even. "Jiang Beiming."

"I asked for the name of the person bullying you, not yours!" Gu Xiaozheng flung the black baseball cap off his head. This girl was just...

He had no idea what to do with her.

2. "The Crazy Girl and the Donkey Dung Egg"

Synopsis:

Liang Yurou had been unruly since childhood. Her family always said she'd take a nasty fall one day, and sure enough, she took a spectacular tumble before starting college.

Di Chuanqing was unruly from childhood too. He grew up taking tumble after tumble, wilder than the stray dogs in the hutongs and harder to rein in than an eagle soaring over the capital. He'd dated three or four girls and always parted amicably. All he wanted out of life was to be a carefree, independent man. Then he met the young lady he couldn't afford to cross.

Di Chuanqing: "Your Highness, I'm begging you. Tell me what you like about me and I'll change it. I'll change it right now!"

Liang Yurou: "I like how you joke around and shamelessly wriggle out of things. You'll never change that in your whole life."

After avoiding Liang Yurou for over half a year, Di Chuanqing decided to pack up and flee Beijing. The guy who'd never been cowed by anyone finally surrendered completely. If he couldn't handle her, he could run. The thirty-sixth strategy was to make himself scarce.

He had just arrived at Beijing Airport when he opened the group chat and saw a few people he barely knew gossiping about him.

"Chuanqing really left. He's almost at the airport. That little girl made it impossible for him to stay."

"He ought to leave. Who'd want a girl like that? I heard there's a dead person in her belly."

"What do you mean?"

"She had an abortion."

Two hours later, Di Chuanqing stood outside a little bar in Shichahai, suitcase in hand.

"Tell your idiot boss to get out here. This place won't be open anymore, and I mean it."

3. "Let the Spirit Possess Me," a horror folk-customs infinite-flow story

Synopsis:

On the first day of He Jinxia's life, a magnificent rooster with phoenix eyes died at home. On the second day, two black-horned sheep died. On the third day, three red-eyed cows died... The village's immortal lady cast her fortune and immediately put the baby in a wooden coffin, sealing it shut and cutting off her air.

"She's born with the fate of the Si Goddess. If she dies on the ninth day, she'll be a corpse for good!"

Buried six meters underground, He Jinxia's mother couldn't bear to listen to her child crying any longer. She dug her up, gave her a mouthful of milk, and died.

From then on, a little girl lived in the village's Si Goddess Temple. Her pretty face was covered in little freckles. As she grew up, He Jinxia received offerings of incense from hundreds of miles around and walked the land bearing the fate of the Si Goddess.

She read feng shui, recognized curses, drove away blue corpses, practiced soul-walking, summoned yin soldiers and the Five Immortals, made white paper effigies, and broke ghost feasts... Everyone said the Si Goddess had possessed He Jinxia and that she vanquished demons and exorcised evil. Whenever He Jinxia heard this, she only gave a cold laugh.

"I'm the one who catches people, and I'm the one who kills ghosts. The Si Goddess has never possessed me, not even once. We can't get her to show up!"

One day, a young master covered in bloody holes was tossed into the Si Goddess Temple. Standing on the altar, He Jinxia looked over the half-dead offering from head to toe.

"What's your name?" He Jinxia asked, approaching with a rotten stench.

The young master moved his lips, fighting the urge to vomit at the stench. "Zhou Bie... Miss, what happened to your face? I know a little medicine. Would you like me to treat it?"

Theme: Fall in love properly, and do your best to win gold medals.