Confessing to My Childhood Friend [The 1980S]

[New novel, Please Be More Careful, Immortal Maiden, a xianxia story, now underway. Come check it out!] [Alternate-history 1980s / same-sex marriage is legal / bittersweet romance] [Commentary enabled, add it to your collection~] Chi Zhu and Zheng Bailu were childhood friends and neighbors in a crowded courtyard for twenty years. Once, they were so close they held hands wherever they went. If one climbed a tree to get up to mischief, the other waited below to catch her. Somewhere along the way, that affection dwindled until all that remained was a perfunctory nod and greeting each morning. Over those twenty years, Zheng Bailu became a tall, proud woman with the most beautiful almond-shaped eyes. She worked as an accountant at a factory and believed she would have a splendid, respectable marriage and future. Chi Zhu's life, meanwhile, was plain and monotonous. She was a milling machine operator. Her sleeveless undershirts and blue uniform were always stained with machine oil, and she was raising her little sister alone, a girl who had only just grown taller than the stove. She kept every wild hope locked deep inside, crushed beneath her numbness and inferiority. Only the daily morning greeting could make those feelings stir, just a little, beyond her control. * Chi Zhu guarded the boundary she had drawn for herself, not daring to cross it by so much as a step. But fate insisted on playing with her. When the news came on TV that same-sex marriage was now legal, Chi Zhu's whole heart trembled, yet she still couldn't bring herself to act. By a twist of fate, Zheng Bailu came back from a class reunion one day and cried without stopping, as if the glamorous future and happiness she had wanted were nothing but a mirage. Chi Zhu tried to comfort her, but nothing worked. After standing there at a loss for ages, she finally let that little hope get the better of her. "Bailu, I like you. I love you." * Chi Zhu thought she had made the worst move of her life, but who could have guessed that Bailu, so proud and beautiful she looked like a little peacock, would have eyes that grew more and more honey-sweet? When she mistakenly thought Chi Zhu had gone on a blind date, she ran into Chi Zhu's arms in tears, her glistening, lively eyes glaring fiercely at her: "You were the one who started this! I won't let you stop loving me!" * Both parents dead, older sister raising her younger sister / clear-eyed, insecure, progressive factory worker x proud, sweet darling / little-peacock factory accountant. Chi Zhu x Zheng Bailu * Updates according to the rankings before signing, then daily after signing, promptly at 6 p.m. [Completed] A Guide to the Comeback of a Woman in Her Forties, Naive, I'm Not Into Older Women!, and Playing Hard to Get [Entertainment Industry]. Come give them a read! [Coming soon] Please Be More Careful, Immortal Maiden. Add it to your collection if you're interested~ [New novel] "Immortal maiden, please be more careful." When Zhao Hong said those words, she never imagined she would say them to three more people. One day, she slipped and fell into a lake. A white sable not only saved her life, it insisted on giving her a heavenly treasure called Heart-Questioning, which could help cultivators question their true nature, see through illusions, and ascend to the peak of the immortal path. But before she could attain the Great Dao, the world-famous immortal maidens began appearing around her, one after another. Bie Fufong, the headmistress of the Langhuan Snow-Feast Hall, was gentle and dignified, as if she lived among the clouds. Yet she showed up uninvited and insisted on becoming Zhao Hong's master. Xie Xuanji, the divine child of Baiyujing, had a brilliant mind and unmatched schemes. Yet those peach-petal eyes of hers looked at Zhao Hong alone with tenderness and a smile, and she spoke softly as she answered her questions. Li Shaowei, young mistress of Wugui Mountain, was dazzling and forceful, able to turn the clouds with a wave of her hand. Yet she came bearing a tear from the Divine Emperor, hoping to give it to Zhao Hong as a gift celebrating their meeting. Even Liancheng Xia, young lady of the Liancheng clan, an aloof, emotionless immortal maiden as cold as snow, was willing to lower her lashes for Zhao Hong and quietly wait for a promise. Zhao Hong thought she was incredibly lucky. She had only just stepped onto the path of immortality, yet she had met such a master and such friends. She thought they wanted to share their hearts with her, that all they wanted was her sincere affection. But what they wanted was the heavenly treasure Heart-Questioning. She had never truly seen any of these four women: * Their gentle attentiveness was a lie. Her master was vicious and ruthless, stopping at nothing and treating her like a puppet. The claim that Xuanji had unmatched schemes was true. Xuanji was hypocritical and calculating, sweet-tongued but treacherous, and behind that smiling gaze she was watching for a chance to take Zhao Hong's life. Her passion and spontaneity were all for show. Shaowei was actually innocent and cruel, constantly plotting to rip open Zhao Hong's chest and tear out her heart, blood and flesh and all. The thawing of ice and snow was an illusion. Xia was cold and heartless, with a heart of stone, and would cast Zhao Hong aside as soon as she got what she wanted. Zhao Hong realized how easily she had been fooled. How could she have mistaken these four for something they were not? Gradually, even the Dao she had once believed in began to blur. So be it. The path to immortality had always been treacherous. She made up her mind to sever her ties with the four women and continue on her own path. But though she let them go, they refused to let her go in peace. The one who stopped at nothing cast aside her schemes and supernatural powers. The calculating one lost her composure. The innocent and cruel one awkwardly began to learn how to love. The cold and heartless one grew passionate as fire. All for her. They no longer wanted Heart-Questioning. They only wanted to beg her to give them one more chance at her sincere affection. *A perfectly upright and righteous saintly gentleman x a dignified black lotus / a gentle hypocrite / an overbearing little tyrant / a cold and beautiful ice queen Theme: Keep living with all you have, and face life with a smile