The Drunken Cicada

Waiting three months for the locked chapters to be released.

[Cheerful, talkative, sincere puppy x a heartbreaker who treats life like a game and is adored by everyone. A groveling romance, bittersweet but sweet, about 70% angst and 30% sweetness. The male lead skipped grades and is 19 in his junior year of college. Happy ending.]

What's worse than confessing to the junior you've had a crush on for over a year, only to be rejected?

Gu Zhiliao can answer from personal experience:

Waking up in a strange hotel the morning after getting drunk at a mixer, only to find the rival she'd hated for over a year lying beside her. With tearful eyes, her rival looks at her and says she has to take responsibility.

-

Life was dull, so Shen Qingyuan devoted herself to finding ways to have fun.

When the legendary child prodigy came knocking of her own accord, Shen Qingyuan went along with it and told a lie full of obvious holes. To her surprise, the girl didn't suspect a thing. She just hung her head and kept apologizing for a crime she hadn't even committed.

The girl's reaction was even more entertaining than expected, so Shen Qingyuan decided to play a clichéd game of love. The game would be over when she got bored. She looked forward to seeing the girl's reaction when the truth came out, but she hadn't expected her to cling like a piece of chewing gum that wouldn't come off.

-

Everyone in their circle knew that Shen Qingyuan, the infamous bad girl, had recently been followed around by an innocent kid. The kid went on about getting married as soon as she graduated, and Shen Qingyuan was so fed up that she tried every way she could think of to make her leave on her own.

Demanding breakfast from Songyue Pavilion first thing in the morning, even though you couldn't get it without a reservation. Calling her in the middle of the night to go buy barbecue on the west side of town. Making her wait outside in the cold while Shen Qingyuan partied with her friends. Playing King’s Game and accepting a penalty that required her to kiss someone else...

The kid never refused the first kind of request. As for the second, the kid had never touched alcohol, but rushed over to drink three penalty shots for her.

The kid never said no, or even showed the slightest reluctance. She even managed to make the troublemaker with a serious stomach condition look healthy and rosy, and she'd visibly put on a little weight around the chin.

Shen Qingyuan was at a loss. Her friends stopped teasing her and gradually started envying how she'd found such an outstanding, honest girl without even trying.

Until someone finally gave her an idea: pretend to be poor.

-

One night, Gu Zhiliao heard a knock at the door of her rental apartment. Still half asleep, she opened it and saw her girlfriend, drenched from head to toe in the pouring rain.

Shen Qingyuan said her family had gone bankrupt and she was deeply in debt, then asked if Gu Zhiliao could take her in.

After Shen Qingyuan casually made up a number, she watched Gu Zhiliao give her the same silly smile as always and say,

"It's okay. Don't be scared. I'll help you pay it off."

Theme: Love can overcome every hardship and obstacle.