Midsummer in the Qinling Mountains

○Free-spirited, sincere researcher x romantic, flirtatious painter - July in the Qinling Mountains wasn’t all that hot. Mountain winds carried sudden showers, veiling the layered green peaks in a thin mist. When Zhu Yi stopped her car to make a call, a woman in a white shirt came smiling out of the mountain fog. The rain had soaked her clothes through, water dripping from her hair and leaving her looking a little bedraggled. She swept her hair back, then leaned down and knocked on Zhu Yi’s car window. She was beautiful, like a mountain spirit who had stepped out of the Qinling Mountains. “Sorry to bother you,” the woman said, leaning on the window, raindrops glittering on her slightly upturned lashes. “Do I just keep going up this road to Xunyangba?” Zhu Yi looked over the woman’s soaked clothes, which perfectly outlined her curvy figure. Her gaze darkened. “Get in.” - “What would you have done if I hadn’t come along the day you flagged down a car?” “This is Highway 210. If you keep going, a miracle is bound to happen.” - [Please note] 1. One-on-one pairing, happy ending, free short vacation story. 2. The general setting is the Qinling Mountains in southern Shaanxi, but the specific geography is entirely fictional. -- Coming soon: Second-Rate Goods. See the blurb below. ◎A genius, super-mean, ambitious poor girl who leeches off the rich and gives candy to eight families x an overwhelmingly saintly older married woman who guides her, a dominant descended from the heavens, a dragon among men - Geum Raina says she fell in love with Yoon Jiyoon at first sight. She says it on variety shows and during livestreams. And she means it. When they first met, Yoon Jiyoon was the undisputed top-tier star of a top girl group, while Geum Raina was a struggling, barely-noticed member who’d just debuted. The first time they crossed paths in the company building, Geum Raina set her sights on Yoon Jiyoon. She would cling to this famous senior and milk her for all she was worth. Her senior missed the once-obedient younger girl from her group, so Geum Raina played the role of a well-behaved substitute. Her senior was aloof and untouchable, so Geum Raina acted as if she were innocent, kind, and free of desire. When her senior seemed ready to turn their act into real love, Geum Raina made sure she fell completely under her spell Then kicked her away. Geum Raina was here to make money by leeching off her, not to get involved with women. “Senior, an idol has to be professional. How can you actually fall in love?” Now a top-tier star, Geum Raina still spoke with tender affection, as if the washed-up Yoon Jiyoon before her had never been cast aside like trash. “Unnie, you should learn to be content.” - In her more than twenty years of smooth sailing, Yoon Jiyoon had never met anyone like Geum Raina: Someone who could take advantage of her without a second thought, yet say “I love you” with such tender warmth; someone who raised her to a pedestal in their passionate moments, then watched indifferently as she fell from the tower. Only when Geum Raina had sucked her dry like a leech and kicked aside the woman who was no longer of any use did Yoon Jiyoon finally understand. Geum Raina had never been the sweet little sister she imagined. And she herself had never been any kind of good older sister. “Beautiful looks, middling talent, abysmal character. That makes you second-rate goods.” Yoon Jiyoon looked at Geum Raina, who had come crawling back because of her family connections, and sneered. She gripped her chin maliciously and turned her face from side to side. “How dare a thing like you show your face at my door?” Geum Raina knelt against her, limp as a boneless creature. The famous star seemed not to feel humiliated at all. As always, she looked up with a sweet smile. “Coming from you, unnie, that’s quite a compliment. I’m flattered.” - You’re second-rate goods. And you’re the love of my life. Theme: Protect the environment.