[Walled City] The Love of a Lifetime

I'm trying my hand at a second-person otome story. The love interests are Di Qiu, Xin Yi, and Wang Jiu. You could call it...a stock-picking romance?

Extremely melodramatic and bittersweet, with anguished love and hatred. Twisted, unhealthy relationships take up far more space than normal ones, so read with caution.

But:

Xin Yi keeps his fingers, Long Juan doesn't die, Di Qiu's hatred is resolved in a reasonable way, and Luo Jun is fine too.

That's all the spoilers I'll give.

I'll do my best to keep everyone in character.

I won't write a blurb, so here are a few short excerpts.

Di Qiu excerpt:

His brow eased as you explained, but he still wasn't reassured. He took the medicine box and dressed your wound again, then couldn't help advising you, "Your mother can do these things. Why do them yourself?"

"But being able to cook makes people like you more." You swallowed the rest of the sentence: See how much you like Auntie?

"Who told you that? Whose affection are you trying to win?" Di Qiu sighed. "Xin Yi's or Twelve's?"

You hurriedly shook your head, denying it, afraid Di Qiu would go tell Long Juan or Brother Taiga.

"Ah May, listen carefully. A man doesn't like a woman because she cooks for him. He likes eating her cooking because he likes her. No one's affection is so precious that you need to lower yourself to earn it. If your efforts win you anything, it'll be gratitude, guilt, or an illusion, but it absolutely won't be love."

He looked into your eyes, his expression so tense and earnest, like a father worried about his daughter's teenage crush. It still made your heart ache.

Xin Yi excerpt:

Life went on, neither sweet nor bitter. You and Xin Yi both tried to ignore the awkwardness and act as you used to.

But it only made things seem more conspicuous, with the two of you keeping your distance while still being drawn together.

Neither of you would step forward, but neither would step back.

During the most stressful period of your studies, on several nights you were hunched over your bedroom desk when you heard a pebble tap against the window.

You opened it. The sky-blue curtains and your long hair were swept forward by the wind. Through the billowing folds of fabric, you saw Xin Yi below, his hands in his pockets.

He wore a shirt, tie, and jeans. His jacket was unzipped, and behind him was his flashy motorcycle.

He lifted his chin at you, eyes bright. "Hey, pretty girl, wanna go for a ride?"

You clapped a hand over your mouth in delight, but your smile still shone through your eyes. You ran downstairs, putting on your jacket as you went, and when you reached him, you still remembered to sweep your messy bangs back from your forehead.

Wang Jiu excerpt:

He rambled on and on, every word about dull, tedious Buddhist matters. After a long while, he seemed to get a dry mouth and finally paused.

Just as you sighed with relief, thinking your ears could have some peace, he started up again. "The Three Refuges are taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and meditation."

"It's the Sangha!" You were already impatient, and hearing him get it wrong made you blurt out a correction. You privately sneered that even you knew this, yet after all those years at the Shaolin Temple, he still couldn't remember it. And he actually had the nerve to show off in public. What a hopeless blockhead. Now that you'd caught him out, you weren't about to spare his feelings. You had to point it out and mock him on the spot. "You can't even get that right, and you dare claim you've read books?"

To your surprise, Wang Jiu wasn't embarrassed at all about being caught in a mistake. Instead, he waved a hand, grinned, and came closer, shouting, "Exactly, exactly!" When you frowned at him, his eyes lit up and he looked downright smug. "If I'd said 'the Sangha,' would the princess have deigned to talk to me?"

"So if it's wrong, it's right! And what's right is wrong!"

You froze, realizing you'd fallen for his provocation. Your reaction was just what he wanted, and you couldn't help regretting your habit of speaking before thinking.

Theme: Tell me, what is love?