#Drafting
#Also known as: Me, a Player, Want to Date?
At the bar, Bai Qinglai worked up the courage to approach the smiling girl sitting in a booth.
In just one night, he lost several firsts.
His first time holding hands, his first hug, his first kiss, and his first time spending the night with a girl.
The next morning, back at school, Bai Qinglai stared at the red exclamation mark in his WeChat chat and sneered at himself. "Hah. A one-night thing, tossed aside after use."
His roommate, who'd just pulled an all-nighter, was confused. "A one-night thing? What one-night thing? Disposable contact lenses?"
-
With graduation approaching, there was a mountain of paperwork to turn in, and he had to be ready to run around at a moment's notice.
One stormy day, Lin Ji rushed into the graduate school office, drenched from head to toe, to turn in her paperwork. As luck would have it, a handsome man with a killer back view was standing inside.
His height and proportions, his taste in clothes, everything was right up her alley. She gave him a few more looks, and the more she looked, the more familiar he seemed.
"The format's wrong. Use her paperwork as a reference."
"All right, Professor."
His warm, low voice brushed Lin Ji's ears. He'd probably sound amazing when he panted.
Suddenly, she remembered wrapping her arms around a man's solid back one night...
It was him!
The professor in the graduate school office waved her over. "Lin Ji, perfect timing. Help this student fill out the form."
Having just recognized the man she'd hooked up with, Lin Ji had no choice but to go over when she was called.
Bai Qinglai raised an eyebrow and shoved the screen with the red exclamation mark in her face. "Lin Ji, add me on WeChat. Will you teach me tonight?"
Lin Ji pretended to be calm and added him back without batting an eye. "Sure. Then tonight... you'd better be prepared!"
-
She ran, he chased, and she couldn't escape.
When they ran into each other again in the Qinling Mountains, where she'd gone to clear her head, Lin Ji finally pulled him aside.
"Let's date until graduation. After that, we'll each go our own way and have nothing to do with each other."
She pointed at herself and said mockingly, "Me, a player. Want to date?"
His long silence told Lin Ji what his answer would be.
She turned to leave, only to have him block her.
Lin Ji asked with her face, What's your problem?
He lowered his head, looking aggrieved. "You were about to leave before I'd even answered."
Lin Ji snapped, "You have three seconds. If you don't say it, forget it."
Before she could count down, he answered firmly, "Let's date!"
[Up-and-coming fashion designer & distinguished young oil painter]
[Gentle, patient, emotionally steady young man x sensitive, fragile, intensely self-critical young woman]
▼Reader's guide:
1. Both leads are romantically inexperienced.
2. Academic and everyday life are stressful. The female lead's mental state is rough in the early chapters.
3. Currently being drafted, expected to start publishing in winter.
4. I'll add more if I think of anything.
Inspired by something in May 2025. Blurb written on June 30, 2025, as the screenshot proves.
Theme: Just make it through winter
