At seventeen, Xu Zhi, who had grown up in the dirt, learned that she had been abducted as a child and was supposed to have been born into wealth.
More than joy at returning to a life of privilege, she felt relieved. "So I wasn't unloved because I wasn't good enough. It was only because I was bought."
She also fell in love with the man who had rescued her from danger, and resolved to follow in his footsteps.
But when she confessed her feelings after the college entrance exams, he rejected her coldly. "You're still young. There are so many things worth pursuing, and I'm not one of them."
*
The facial recognition system designed by Qi Yu found a little girl who had been abducted. She had a lively, resilient spirit and never gave up. She was full of promise.
But he turned down the girl's confession without hesitation. His technology had helped so many families. If everyone wanted to repay him with their hand in marriage, there wouldn't be enough of him to go around.
*
Half a year later, Qi Yu met a junior from his department on a technical forum. After frequent conversations, the man who had always looked down on everyone else found himself talking about the fashionable phenomenon of online dating, except he was in love all by himself.
When he asked to meet in person, she only replied, "If anything I've done gave you the wrong impression, I apologize. Right now, I'm pursuing many things, but romance isn't one of them."
It was the first time in his life he'd been rejected. He was heartbroken, but those words sounded strangely familiar.
*
Xu Zhi became a rising star in the field of medical AI. The tech world was full of jokes about beautiful women entrepreneurs.
Qi Yu, now an industry leader, publicly clarified, "Xu Zhi's work is excellent. Her model is very well built, and we'll have to wait and see how it performs in practice. As for Xu Zhi herself, I've been secretly in love with her for a long time. I don't want to hear anyone slander her private life."
Onlookers: You call this kind of favoritism, known to the whole world, a secret crush?
The humble raise their heads for their ideals, while the proud bow their heads for love.
Premise: Saving yourself.
