Summer Countdown

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[Brave, clear-headed, sunny sweetheart vs. self-deprecating, incredibly fit domestic king|Size difference|Age gap|She falls for him over time, while his secret crush finally comes true]

[Female director vs. former police officer]

Jiang Huaixu couldn't quite pinpoint the moment she fell for Chi Zhao.

The first time she saw him was at Jiangcheng Railway Station. She was heading to a county town to shoot a documentary.

The man who came to meet her had long legs and a slim waist, broad shoulders and a narrow waist, and an overwhelming masculine presence. His face, however, looked fierce and arrogant. Without changing expression, he said, "I'm your landlord for the next three months."

She thought, This is it. I should've just slept on the street.

But this was the same Chi Zhao who rescued a kitten stranded in a tree, took in stray dogs with nowhere to go, bought all the vegetables in an old woman's basket one evening so she could get home early, and donated all his savings to the school so the children in town could receive a better education.

So, on a breezy morning, when she saw the birthday cake in the fridge that he'd secretly bought for her but hadn't managed to give her, she suddenly realized she had fallen for him.

*

When Chi Zhao was nineteen, he got into the police academy in Nancheng with the highest score in the county. Wearing a shirt washed so many times it had faded, he stood outside a subway station, looking somewhat lost as he gazed at the modern metropolis of steel and glass.

The third time someone shoved him aside and told him to stop blocking the way, a young woman came running up to him, stumbling as she went. Smiling brightly, she asked where he was headed.

Amid the hurried gray-and-white crowd, her floral dress seemed to be the only splash of color. He never forgot her.

*

During the first summer Jiang Huaixu and Chi Zhao were together, she spotted the doll she'd lost in high school in his room. The little pale-yellow dog charm had been washed until it was faded. Only then did she realize how many years they had missed together.

She turned and wrapped her arms around the man's strong waist, burying her face against his chest to hide the tears slipping from the corners of her eyes. "Why do I miss you so much when you're right here beside me?"

Chi Zhao's eyes reddened slightly. He gathered her into his arms, then carefully brushed the tears from her eyes with his rough fingers and kissed her trembling earlobe. "Maybe it's because I've missed you for so, so many years too."

The key point: Almost the entire novel is about this lovey-dovey couple. There's a little plot in the beginning, but the latter half is almost entirely romance!!!

Coming soon: Simmering Sugar

If you like it, please add it to your favorites, my dears (·3·)

[Proper, steady, truly paternal type vs. sweet, oblivious, fake airhead]

[When a doting older brother meets a sister who adores her big brother]

[Reunion after years apart|Age gap and size difference|Sweet romance|Happy ending|Both are each other's first]

Blurb:

Li Weizhen saw Yu Hengzhi again at her engagement party.

Amid the clinking glasses and lively chatter, her fiance draped his suit jacket over another woman's shoulders.

That woman raised her glass to Li Weizhen with a provocative smile, but Li Weizhen seemed relieved at last. She turned and walked away.

In the crush of the crowd, she fell into familiar arms.

She looked up to find that the man had long since shed the awkwardness of his youth. Dressed in a suit, he looked refined and untouchable, but the smile in his eyes when he gazed at her was just the same as before.

He steadied her by the waist and said gently, "How are you still so clumsy?"

His scorching warmth seeped through her satin gown, flustering Li Weizhen. She suppressed the ache in her heart and addressed him in a polite, distant tone: "Mr. Yu."

The man's expression didn't change. His dark eyes were fathomless, but the hand resting at her lower back trembled. His voice was hoarse. "Zhenzhen, why don't you call me Big Brother anymore?"

Li Weizhen wrenched herself from his arms and boldly stepped on his foot. "I don't have a brother like you."

After Li Weizhen's parents died, she was taken in by the Shang family.

They said she and Shang Mu were betrothed as children, and that she was supposed to marry him when she grew up, so it was only right for the Shang family to take her in.

But it wasn't quite true to say the Shang family raised her. In reality, she grew up with Yu Hengzhi, the housekeeper's grandson.

When she first arrived at the Shang household, she relived the nightmare of her parents dying in front of her every night.

Yu Hengzhi made her a glass night-light with his own hands and told her stories, soothing her to sleep night after night.

From choosing the fabric of her clothes to helping her with her homework and attending her parent-teacher meetings, Yu Hengzhi took care of everything for her, always making sure it was done just right.

Then, when she was seventeen, she came home from a chemistry competition to find that Yu Hengzhi, who had promised to take her to the amusement park, had vanished without a trace.

Shang Mu was the only one there. Leaning against the doorframe, he looked at the tear tracks on her face and cruelly pinched her chin. "Your precious Big Brother Hengzhi stopped wanting you a long time ago."

Yu Hengzhi had known since childhood that he was merely a weapon the Shang family was raising for Shang Mu.

While other kids his age worried about their quiz scores, he had already joined the Shang Group, handling their shady business dealings.

He had no particular preferences and no feelings to spare.

Everyone said he was mature beyond his years, serious and old-fashioned, like a cold robot programmed to follow instructions.

Yu Hengzhi didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

Until one day, the Shang couple brought home a little girl.

She wore a frilly princess dress. When she smiled, her eyelashes curved and her cheeks turned pink, making her look like a soft, fluffy little cake.

The little cake peeked out from behind Shang Mu and called to him sweetly: "Big Brother Hengzhi."

It felt as though something had struck him in the heart.

He thought, I want to buy my little sister every pretty dress in the world.

Bonus scene:

One day, a TV station wanted to interview Yu Hengzhi, but he declined, saying he was too busy. After repeated invitations, the station had to settle for interviewing his assistant instead.

Sitting in the reception room beside the CEO's office, facing a row of dark camera lenses, the assistant sat up straight and pushed up his glasses. "Our CEO is a very composed and dignified man in his personal life, too."

Just then, a clumsy intern accidentally pushed open the office door.

Everyone turned to look.

Inside, Yu Hengzhi wore a fluffy bear hood and held out a box of cake to the girl sitting in the executive chair, sulking.

The man smiled and coaxed her softly: "The bear sent me to ask if Baby is still mad."

Everyone: ?

TIPS:

1. Before the leads are adults, their relationship is strictly brother and sister!

2. The male lead had no choice but to leave back then. He loves her so much!

3. The groveling arc belongs to the second male lead, Shang Mu.

4. This is another warm and sweet romance.

Theme: Love gives people courage