Summary: Another novel from Chestnut. Qiao Ruiqi spent three days at granda Qiu's villa with a man. Because of her temporary blindness she could not see the person who accompanied her, but always thought it was Liang Qinyue.
After the Liang family offered marriage Qiao Ruiqi decided to travel to city A and see for herself. At the same time Liang Qinyue was busy with organizing a b-day party for an Internet celebrity he met recently and asked his good friend Xiao Dou pick up Qiao Ruiqi instead of him.
Note: There is also mystery in this novel.
This was lovely. Unlike the previous one that felt too random for such an interesting setting, this time we do have a nice setting, more or less logical explanation behind it. As a shared universe we get a glimpse of previous couple mentioned (usually it's like this), but it's just a homage and Mr. Fu and his girlfriend do not appear personally at all, just a mention. There is always the mention of brand Bunny btw, like each novel has it. I think we need a new designer or what :D
But again.. Chestnut can't write mystery, their format of short novels does not support mystery and tension (explained in spoilers). But at least this one managed to be somewhat decent, even if it's far from being perfect and where mystery isn't even a central piece.
Plotline.
Qiao Ruiqi arrives to city A and is picked up by Xiao Duo. A handsome man, 28 years old, tall, majestic and stylish. Meanwhile Liang Qinyue arranges a birthday party for an Internet celebrity he met earlier. He is not happy at the prospects of arranged marriage with a girl who is not really his type. But he also doesn't want to be caught by his father of not meeting the girl, so he used his "friend" Xiao Duo to entertain Qiao Ruiqi during her stay.
Qiao Ruiqi is a newly appreciated painter who became popular for her painting being auctioned at a sky-high price. She will hold a solo exhibition in city A (beats me why here, she resides in city H), so her visit is not only to see Liang Qinyue.
But her memory and reality don't match.
It becomes apparent that Liang Qinyue wasn't even the one who stayed with her during those three days while she was blinded. But it was Xiao Duo.
So why they managed to miss each other (explained in spoilers).
Meeting Xiao Duo was an unexpected thing, but she noticed she started to gravitate towards him more and more and even find elements of that man in Xiao Duo. Eentually they do come closer and pierce that window paper and come together. Xiao Duo got the girl he fell in love with and she got herself a good man.
Meanwhile we also get a glimpse at Ruiqi's career and some strange events happening that feel like they're not connected, but they slowly point at one person.
Romance.
I liked it in here. Although we find out that both had different thoughts about those three days. But Ruiqi came to terms with herself that a dream is a dream, but Xiao Duo is really good and she might as well try with him.
Xiao Duo actually fell in love during those three days and even if some means look underhanded from his side and he sent the Internet celeb to distract Ling Qinyue, but Liang Qinyue was always like this and had no real feeling for Ruiqi, so Xiao Duo just wanted to show the man in true colors and Ruiqi give up on this arranged marriage.
It was good that they slowly warmed up, more like Ruiqi slowly warmed up. But it was also fine for the two to cross the line quickly. The only thing is that I wouldn't put it on Ruiqi's head as being "artistic". She just felt there was nothing wrong with suppressing herself. It's better than one of the earlier novels where a girl was talked into sleeping after several dates, even if it was ML.
/!~SPOILERS~!/
Now, two questions I've been asking myself and been waiting for the answer.
The first one - the reasoning behind Ruiqi not recognizing Xiao Duo. Also I must say, its only in romantic novels this is possible, but in reality she was blinded and had a relationship with someone she's supposed to know, but still it's risque.
At that time Ruiqi saw everything in blur. Xiao Duo was actually sick and had fever, so his voice was raspy and "unrecognizable" though I think it's bs and thankfully Ruiqi caught on to it. Although it took her time. Logically people speak differently and she should have noticed it almost right away.
But why she thought it was Liang Qinyue, she called grandpa Qiu and Xiao Duo's visit should have been a secret, so he only mentioned Liang Qinyue.
Then Liang Qinyue showed that he wasn't interested and Ruiqi thought fantasy and reality are two different things, since the man made her feel warm and good, but Ling Qinyue she saw was far from that.
Very weak reasoning to me, but let's make it work.
But Xiao Duo did not claim the man as himself because after they parted the news of the marriage came out and he thought Ruiqi did not think much of their relationship, but he still tried his own means to disrupt it (yeah even sent that celeb).
Now the mystery part, which is way sillier.
It is indeed connected to Ruiqi and her painting 'Spring Love'. As we find out the one who was after her was a man who killed the woman in her paiting and she was the last to see her.
Although Chestnut tried to make it feel like the killer was slowly dancing around and infiltrating Ruiqi's circle, but due to length of the novel it actually felt rushed as if the person was getting impatient. His idea behind the first attempt was more reasonable unlike the second one when he was caught.
The first time he wanted to pretend to me a maintanace guy and stun Ruiqi and create an accident. The case might be more complicated to solve. But now he decided to stun her face to face and get into a car accident and make her lose her life, but he will survive, which is questionable. Because now she has Xiao Duo to think about her and he would dig 6 feet to dig out the truth.
This is where I think reasoning of Ruiqi being targetted kinda weak. Ruiqi's style is not distinct in her painting to make the face of the woman stand out. It was so loud when her painting was on a hot search and the woman's parents did not come forward after all. This guy might have as well stayed put and not make any weird moves, the more he did the stupider it looked and the more suspicious everyone around became. Because unless the parents claim the missing person the case would not be opened. It is very unlikely for Ruiqi herself to be ineterested in that woman. After all this guy came across Ruiqi not once and asked her pointed questions about the woman and those answers gave a general idea that she is clueless af. For readers it was evident that he is shady, but it might not be the case for her. So it was kinda silly.
/~/
There was an episode in the novel, which is a lovely courtesy when Xiao Duo gave Ruiqi a bottle of water which he already opened. Some are actually hard to open if it's a mineral water. But the very same day when I returned from shopping and opened a water bottle I managed to hurt myself. The opening had a piece of sharp plastic sticking out, I suppose it's a faulty thing during production. It also reminded me of Yoo JaeSeok, Korean TV host and permanent member of Running Man show I've been watching for years. And he is a true gent, because he also opens bottle for female guests before passing the bottle, which I think is a kind gesture.
RATE: 4/5. Despite these loopholes etc. I will still give it just because Chestnut rebounded in my eyes and wrote a better novel than her few previous ones. Maybe others will see all their works as good, but to me there are pros and cons in having very short novels and not dwelling into the plot and emotions. It makes the story airy, but it may also make the story lacking.
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