Rekindled romance / mutual redemption / reunion at the beginning
A rational, angst-inducing jade carver x a passionate, obsessive lead singer
The upcoming story blurb is below. Please give it a little star~
Ning Qing had always been a well-behaved child: she followed the rules, was sensible and obedient, and ranked near the top throughout primary, middle, and high school. At university, she followed her parents' wishes and studied medicine for five years.
But just before leaving the country for further studies, she changed her ticket on her own and flew back to her hometown to run a rundown jade-carving shop.
After three years of hard work, her reputation had barely grown and business remained modest. Then, unexpectedly, she ran into her ex-boyfriend, Yu Songjin, lead singer of Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, and Seas.
Three years ago, Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, and Seas was an obscure little band. Now they were household names, and concert tickets were impossible to get. Yu Songjin had become a rising star in Chinese-language music, winning award after award.
Ning Qing had thought she would never cross paths with that star again. He would shine brilliantly while she watched from afar and wished him well.
She never expected not only to reunite with him, but for Yu Songjin to ask her to get back together!
On the surface, Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, and Seas was an enormously famous band. Every member seemed to be living the high life, and even old men strolling in the park could hum a few of their songs.
But apart from the band members themselves, only Ning Qing knew that beneath their glittering exterior, the band was a bunch of "old, weak, sick, and injured" people.
Back then, Yu Songjin had nothing. He planned to give up music after finishing the cigarette in his hand, but Ning Qing snatched the flame away from him.
Ning Qing awkwardly held the lit cigarette between two fingers. It looked like an orange flower blooming at her fingertips. She seemed nothing like someone who would smoke, yet she really did take a drag from it.
White smoke rose slowly into the night, shaped itself into a crane, then drifted away.
"So many people in this world are afraid of failure, so they do nothing at all. Giving up in advance is the best way to comfort yourself." She fought back a cough and handed the cigarette back to Yu Songjin. "Are you one of those people, too?"
Yu Songjin stubbed out the cigarette. The surroundings suddenly grew dim, and a breeze slipped in.
"You're not going to smoke anymore?" Ning Qing asked.
After a long while, he smiled faintly. "I'll quit from now on. It's bad for my voice."
Little scene:
Ning Qing left the jade market and hailed a cab back to her studio. The radio was broadcasting today's entertainment news.
"Yesterday, at Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, and Seas' concert at the Bird's Nest, lead singer Yu Songjin made an emotional declaration of love to his ex-girlfriend."
Ning Qing's heart jolted. She could feel every hair on her head, right down to both ears, standing on end.
Then the radio played audio from the concert the day before.
Yu Songjin's clear, gentle voice passed through the static and reached Ning Qing's wildly pounding heart.
"Eight years ago, I was a wandering singer performing in bars. I told a girl that I wanted to hold a concert at the Bird's Nest. Today, I made it happen, but she's gone."
The crowd erupted in shouts and screams, but Yu Songjin's voice remained steady and resolute.
"Now I want to find her. The next song is called 'A Song for Qing.' I wrote it for her. Wherever she is now, I know she'll hear it."
Reader's guide:
1. They are not each other's first, but the male lead has had an ex, and they are each other's first time.
2. Contains a small amount of BL content, but no side couple. Please consider carefully if either point bothers you!
3. A bittersweet romance. Both characters have personality flaws early on, which is why they broke up.
4. The plot before and after their reunion is roughly in a 7:3 ratio.
----Upcoming story blurb below----
A candidate who accidentally sees spirits x an examiner with a solution for everything
Cen Bai had been able to see things others couldn't since she was little. Her father even went out of his way to find a "half-immortal" to divine the cause, and the problem eventually got better.
But it happened again on the day of her Class Three driving test!
The worst part was that the test fell on the thirty-first, the Ghost Festival. Ghostly figures were everywhere. Cen Bai hid in the car and drove carefully, but still failed...
Cen Bai figured that failing an exam because a ghost blocked the road had to be unprecedented. But she couldn't tell anyone about it, so she could only stew in silence.
System notification: Exam failed. Drive the car back to the starting point and prepare to retake the test on the thirty-first.
Cen Bai was already the last candidate. There was no way she could retake the test that day. Thinking the system had bugged out, she didn't pay it much mind and went home as usual after the exam. But when she woke up, it was still the thirty-first!
By the thirty-third retake, she finally understood: as long as she kept failing the Class Three test, she would be stuck retaking it on the Ghost Festival forever!
Cen Bai was so upset she couldn't even cry. She had no choice but to contact that half-immortal again and get herself an advantage. Otherwise, there was no way she'd ever pass the Class Three test!
Examiner 314, the advantage Cen Bai had summoned, was the incarnation of the Underworld's three hundred and fourteenth soul-guiding banner.
His duties included, but were not limited to, capturing ghosts and guiding souls. Cen Bai was his final task. By the rules of the Underworld, once he completed his last assignment, he would have earned enough merit to enter the cycle of reincarnation and become human.
Unfortunately, his last assignment was SSS+ level, with one complication after another. His Yu Zhang magical artifact had also failed him at a crucial moment, and the situation was truly dire!
Cen Bai glanced at the examiner still standing outside the car. Pale skin, a crimson beauty mark. He was the advantage she'd called in, but not the one she was looking for.
314 hadn't arrived. This was his last task. If he didn't complete it, could he still enter the cycle of reincarnation?
Cen Bai thought to herself as she calmly got into the car, closed the door, fastened her seat belt, pulled the handbrake, honked the horn, and completed the lighting test.
Then she started in first gear, shifted into second and third, and floored the accelerator.
She drove off without waiting for the examiner to get in during her Class Three test!
"Cen Bai! What are you doing?!"
The shouts of the instructor and examiner faded into the distance as she entered the spirit realm. Shrouded in thick mist, she drove all the way to Danggui Tower. Just as expected, 314 was inside.
"Cen Bai."
Before 314 could say anything else, Cen Bai threw her arms around him.
How strange. The Underworld's soul-guiding banner was so soft and warm to hold, enough to make anyone want to cry.
"314, I want you..."
Cen Bai heard a heavy, powerful heartbeat, like the sharp beat of a drum. It wasn't hers. It came from 314.
So even a soul-guiding banner had a heartbeat. How wonderful.
Reader's guide: They are each other's first, and the romance develops slowly.
Theme: A pop superstar and a jade carver rekindle their romance
Who is Brother Lin?????