Cicadas Sing, the Rice Fields Breathe

A slow-burn romance from the heroine's perspective, a reunion romance from the hero's perspective

Optimistic, resilient sunshine-girl guesthouse owner x Cool, aloof, proud photographer

After graduating from college, Jia He returned to her hometown, planning to expand her guesthouse. But she ran into setback after setback. By day, she kept running the place with a smile. At night, she reviewed and reflected on how business had gone that day.

Jia He worked every day until she was so tired she fell asleep face-down on her desk. But every morning, she woke up in bed.

How strange. Jia He clearly remembered falling asleep at her desk.

To find out what was happening at night, she stayed awake one evening, sitting quietly at her desk.

It was the middle of the night when a man sneaked in through the window. He looked up and met her scrutinizing gaze.

"Why are you here so late?"

The man gave up on making excuses and answered bluntly:

"I was passing by. I heard someone crying, so I came to check."

"What's it to you?"

"Then could you please stop crying?"

Jia He had never liked having her picture taken because she thought she wasn't photogenic. But for some reason, Cheng Zhi loved taking candid shots of her.

Jia He wondered every day how many ugly photos of her he had.

Then one day, she opened his computer and found a folder with her name on it.

She clicked it open and saw that she looked so radiant in the pictures.

She couldn't help thinking of something someone once said:

"Someone who loves you will take beautiful pictures of you."

A camera lens has warmth.

Love is in your eyes, and in his lens.

1. Single-couple romance. The heroine is three months older than the hero.

2. The romance develops slowly and gently, through the small details of everyday life.

3. The hero admired the heroine even when he was little.

4. The hero was chubby as a child but slimmed down as he grew up, so the heroine doesn't recognize him at first.

Here is the blurb for my upcoming novel, Your Heartbeat Will Tell You. If you like it, please add it to your collection:

[Six-year age gap. No intimacy before the heroine reaches adulthood.]

When they first met, she was only twelve, an age when a child should have no worries. Yet her body was covered in bruises, some faint and some dark.

At eighteen, he was brought into her home by her father, and he noticed something was wrong.

"What happened to those bruises? Did someone hurt you? Tell me, and I'll get even with them for you."

Little Qingyue only shook her head, frightened, gripping the sleeve of his shirt.

While Qin Zhao lived at her house, he discovered who Qingyue was afraid of.

The boy used the clumsy, limited means at his disposal to avenge little Qingyue.

Before he left, Ruan Qingyue gave him a rabbit figurine she had treasured. "Thank you, big brother. I'll listen to you and fight back bravely."

When they met again, she was seventeen and he was twenty-three.

Ruan Qingyue was no longer the girl who had once been close to him. Qin Zhao felt like a stranger to her.

"Qingyue, I heard from people at school that your classmates are bullying you. Is that true?" Qin Zhao leaned against the window. The bright red tip of the cigarette between his fingers stung Ruan Qingyue's eyes.

She lowered her head and pretended to read, without answering him.

But the hand hidden in her sleeve clenched into a fist.

Qin Zhao gave a scornful laugh, stubbed out his cigarette, and crouched in front of her, gripping her chin. "Qingyue, can you behave? Is it really so painful to listen to me?"

Premise: Don't let hardship defeat you. Love life and embrace every moment.