Next-Door Neighbors

[Weibo: @Erin Shan Ci]

This novel has applied to be unlocked, and I promise to finish it properly as a free story.

On a summer afternoon, Jiang Jingshu sat eating half a watermelon with a spoon while listening to her mother go on about the neighbor's son.

"Auntie Zhou's son graduated from Tsinghua, he's tall and handsome, earns this much a year, and doesn't smoke or drink. You should talk to him more."

Jiang Jingshu didn't think much of it. Still eating her watermelon, she said, "He has a girlfriend."

-

On a muggy, rainy summer night, Lin Zhou came home from working overtime and found his mother going on about the neighbor's daughter.

"That young girl from the Jiang family graduated from Peking University, started her own business, and is gentle and generous. I'll take you to meet her."

Lin Zhou smiled and put down his laptop bag. "I hear she already has a boyfriend."

-

Upstairs, both mothers worried themselves sick about their children's futures.

Downstairs, Jiang Jingshu and Lin Zhou shared the same air-conditioning blanket.

Lin Zhou murmured, "They're upstairs. Keep your voice down, the walls aren't soundproof."

Jiang Jingshu scratched his back and glared at him. "Couldn't you be a little gentler?"

"Next time, come to my place. At least it won't be in this building."

-

A little scene:

Jiang Jingshu was sent by her mother to take out the trash. She ran into Lin Zhou, who had come to do the same. Just as he was about to approach her, Jiang Jingshu warned him:

"My mom's watching me from upstairs."

Lin Zhou: "..."

After taking out the trash, Jiang Jingshu walked beneath a tree and patted Lin Zhou on the butt.

"Come over at eleven. Get washed up and wait for me."

·A story about sneaking around because they don't want their families watching them date.

·A bittersweet but healing sweet romance.

·The story is entirely fictional. Please don't read it as reality.

·Blurb captured on 2024.08.19

Upcoming novel: Cloud Moves, Wind Won't Cease

Pseudo-siblings//

When Ji Xingzhi was four, his parents died in a car accident. The Shu family adopted him, and from then on, he and Shu Yunwan became family.

The same-age siblings argued all the time. They'd bicker all the way home from school, then keep up their chopstick battles at the same dinner table.

When someone at school confessed to Ji Xingzhi, Shu Yunwan ran home to report it at once.

When Shu Yunwan had a crush on an upperclassman, Ji Xingzhi followed her example and broke them up.

Just as Shu Yunwan thought her whole life would be this bleak, college sent them to different places, and they only saw each other during the holidays.

She somehow ended up with a boyfriend, then got dumped by him two months later for reasons she couldn't quite understand.

Despondent, she returned home and wanted to take out her frustrations on Ji Xingzhi.

She pushed open the door

And caught Ji Xingzhi taking care of his own needs.

A pillow flew at her, blocking her view, and Shu Yunwan shut the door, her face burning.

"Didn't I lock the door?"

His muffled voice came from inside.

Shu Yunwan fought the rasp in her throat and said softly,

"Brother, the lock's broken. I forgot to tell you."

At last, she realized they had both grown up.

A door called taboo stood between them, one they couldn't just open at will.

-

I know that wanting you makes me vile, deserving of a thousand deaths. I thought I could hide myself from you and put an end to every wrong thing

If only you hadn't risen onto your toes to kiss me.

·Their adoptive family ties will be dissolved.

·Pseudo-siblings. Read with caution if this bothers you.

Upcoming novel: Golden Light Rippling

The first time Xia Fulan met Branwen, she was wearing nude stockings, a leopard-print camisole, and denim shorts. She pulled a ballpoint pen from a knockoff designer bag and wrote her name and phone number on a napkin.

Four years later, Xia Fulan left Branwen with her American green card.

Xia Fulan had lied to him.

She didn't love him. Everything she had done was for the green card.

Branwen had lied to Xia Fulan, too.

For instance, he wasn't a poor violinist, and he wasn't a gentleman.

·They are each other's one and only.

·The male lead is mixed-race.

·The story is entirely fictional. Please don't read it as reality.

Upcoming novel: Pomegranate Skirt

Fang Huiran had been dating Cheng Yanzhe for seven years, and at last, he proposed. Cheng Yanzhe was wonderful in every way: capable, from a good family, and surrounded by friends and relatives who were all a pleasure to be around. The only exception was Jiang Heng, his university classmate.

Jiang Heng was the opposite of Cheng Yanzhe: fussy, stingy, arrogant, and impossible to get along with. Worse, he was Fang Huiran's boss and constantly picked on her.

When she heard Jiang Heng's blind date had gone badly, Fang Huiran gleefully told a colleague, "No smart woman would ever want to marry him."

The day the wedding invitations went out, a woman younger and more innocent-looking than Fang Huiran showed up and softly said she was carrying Cheng Yanzhe's child.

Everyone in the office heard her, including Jiang Heng. When he looked up, he was still holding the invitation Fang Huiran had just handed him.

The wedding went ahead as planned.

Cheng Yanzhe received an invitation from Fang Huiran. He scoffed and didn't attend.

But six months later, when he went to visit Jiang Heng, he heard Fang Huiran's voice.

"Honey, who's here?"

Jiang Heng was wearing pajamas printed with pomegranate flowers. "Someone you don't know."

·The female lead isn't a virgin, the male lead is.

·The male lead is only frugal with himself. He never actually targets the female lead at work.

Theme: Study hard and work hard