Secret Crush Turns Real | Both Leads Are Each Other's First | Four-Year Age Gap
Shadow, Chi Yu, was a prodigy in the development lane who burst onto the scene at eighteen. In just two years, he led Team ZEN to five consecutive championships and claimed the FMVP title four times.
At 190 centimeters tall, he had a pair of soulful, flirtatious eyes, fair skin, and a straight nose. Raised in a scholarly family, he carried a gentle, refined air in everything he did.
But the moment he stepped onto the battlefield, his mild-mannered gentlemanly side transformed into a razor-sharp edge, making him an unstoppable blade.
The league hailed him as a god. With millions of fans, he basked in limitless glory.
Then ZEN's scandal exploded like a thunderclap. Chi Yu was suspected of match-fixing, and the championship dynasty came crashing down overnight.
Chi Yu fell into a long period of despair, with all his past honors turned into blades pointed at him.
The following summer season, his team was eliminated in the round of sixteen. Outside the venue, someone had scrawled in glaring red marker on his standee: "Shadow, retire."
*
During the summer vacation after her college entrance exams, He Ying squeezed into the deafening arena and watched ZEN get eliminated in the round of sixteen.
As the crowd dispersed, she saw the huge words "Shadow, retire" written in red marker on Shadow's standee.
Her heart felt as if it had been squeezed tight.
He Ying turned around and went to the supermarket to buy two markers.
Amid the jeers and sighs, she rose onto her tiptoes and furiously scribbled over the words.
Then, over the messy red, she carefully wrote, stroke by stroke: Shadow, win the championship again.
*
When university began, He Ying discovered that her roommate, Sang Qingshi, was the younger sister of ZEN's jungler.
Even more coincidentally, they had the same birthday.
At their birthday party, the door swung open.
Framed by shifting light and shadow, Chi Yu, Sang Qingshi's fiance, stood in the doorway. He was twenty-two.
He wore a simple white shirt, looking handsome and refined, with a faint trace of weariness beneath his eyes.
The room was lively all night, but He Ying stayed quiet.
Then Chi Yu came over to her. "You're He Ying, right? He Ying, the name sounds lovely. I didn't know today was your birthday too, so I didn't prepare a present. I'm sorry, I can only wish you a happy birthday."
At that moment, the world fell silent.
He Ying heard her own heart pounding and tasted a sour ache spreading through her throat.
Amid the room's laughter and chatter, she clenched her trembling fingertips, lifted her face, and summoned all her courage to ask softly, "Shadow... could I take a photo with you?"
As the camera captured the moment, He Ying made her eighteenth-birthday wish in her heart: May my light pierce through every shadow and once again crown you king.
*
Later, Chi Yu returned to the top and lifted the championship trophy once more.
At the celebration banquet, he crossed the thronging crowd and headed straight for He Ying in the corner.
"Little fan, want a photo with champion Shadow?"
Just as the shutter clicked, Chi Yu suddenly bent down and placed the lightest kiss on He Ying's cheek.
Good-natured teasing rang out around them. He Ying froze, then looked up and met Chi Yu's gentle, smiling gaze.
"Sorry, I just couldn't help myself."
1. The game is fictional. Please don't associate it with real life.
2. The male lead and the female lead's roommate have no romantic feelings for each other. The roommate likes someone else.
The blurb was completed on 2026.2.2 and has been screenshotted.
Theme: Love life
