disaster

☆, Prologue

Xiang Lan was diagnosed with early pregnancy, and the other party responsible for the car accident has disappeared.

My period was half a month late. I thought it was due to irregular menstruation caused by staying up late. I went to the gynecology department of the school hospital to get some medicine. After the doctor glanced at me, he ordered a pregnancy test.

She earnestly told the school doctor, "Teacher, I am still a virgin."

The teacher, unfazed, said, "Go and look it up!"

Xiang Lan wanted to overturn the teacher's desk, but although she was spoiled, she wasn't stupid, so she went anyway.

She is still a virgin, but she had a sexual encounter twenty days ago.

As a result, she sat on a bench outside the hospital for two hours and finally convinced herself to accept the fact.

Xiang Lan started having nightmares every night, about a little demon with the same captivating face as Fang Zidu crawling out of her belly.

Fang Zidu, the name of that bewitching man. And this man, like a dewdrop before the morning sun, beautiful yet fragile, vanishes without a trace once the sun shines.

He was a jinx, ruining her life.

She would never let him go for the rest of her life.

Author's Note: Come on, let's start with a prologue! I hope you all enjoy it.

☆, Chapter 1

Xiang Lan handed over the first draft of her graduation project to Liu Nanyang; it was a thick stack.

He glanced at the manuscript, but didn't rush to look at it. Instead, he picked up his teacup, took a sip of water, and after a while, said, "Xiang Lan, have you ever been in a relationship?"

Xiang Lan was a little impatient, but still answered politely, "No."

Have you ever had someone you liked?

This can't be hidden anymore, "There is—"

"Didn't catch up?" Liu Nanyang put down his teacup, pressed his hand on the manuscript, and said in a friendly manner, "Oh, it's quite thick, and it gets thicker each time."

Xiang Lan really wanted to roll her eyes. If it weren't for the fact that her submissions were criticized the last two times, she wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble.

"My brother and my dad don't agree."

"They disagreed, and you just gave in?" Liu Nanyang glanced at her sideways. "You don't seem like the type to be so obedient."

"Teacher, please take a look at my manuscript—" Stop dwelling on personal issues.

"Being able to let your family control your emotions means you don't like them enough." Liu Nanyang lazily pushed the manuscript aside, showing no intention of opening it. "Sit down, standing is too high, it puts pressure on me."

Xiang Lan pulled up a chair, sat up straight, and just wanted to behave herself to satisfy him and stop causing trouble. She deeply regretted not being careful when choosing her topic, picking such a broad one as "love and beauty," thinking it would be easy to write and she could be lazy. Instead, she had encountered such a strict tutor. But it was too late to cry now, and changing topics or tutors was out of the question.

"Never been in a relationship." Liu Nanyang looked her up and down. "This won't do for a young woman; the best years of your life will pass by in the blink of an eye—"

Xiang Lan lowered her head and endured it, simply because the person in front of her was not only her mentor but also her uncle, and therefore naturally had the right to discipline her.

"I'll have to talk to my brother about that."

Do you have someone you love right now?

"have."

Who is it?

Xiang Lan reached out and pulled the stack of manuscripts back, flipped them open, and showed her latest idea: a young and handsome man with his body naked, standing on his back, his hands plunging into his chest and tearing it apart to reveal his bright red heart.

"He is the subject of my graduation project."

Liu Nanyang looked at the girl, flipped through the rough draft and a meticulously retouched sketch, and after a long while said, "What are you trying to convey?"

"Love and Beauty—"

"All I saw was perfunctoriness and emptiness."

"Teacher, you haven't looked at it carefully yet. I wrote all my design concepts on the back. Take another look!" I showed him my whole heart, but he was still not satisfied.

Liu Nanyang shook his head. "If the next thing you submit is like this, I suggest you postpone your graduation."

Xiang Lan froze, seeing his still smiling face, unsure what to do, and said in a dejected voice, "Uncle—"

“Calling me ‘Dad’ won’t help.” Liu Nanyang closed the manuscript. “Move it back. Don’t leave it here. It makes me angry just looking at it.”

Xiang Lan knew why he was so angry. Her uncle was a professor at the art academy, a successful artist with numerous awards. When she was little, he would often teach her to draw, sculpt clay, and carve. When it came time to take the college entrance exam, her family wouldn't let her study abroad, so she defiantly chose the art exam, which she thought was easier. Thanks to her uncle's teaching, she got into the art academy. Playing around with it was fine, but once she started seriously studying the major, her uncle's attitude changed drastically. He looked down on her lazy attitude, but since he wasn't her main teacher, he let it go.

No one expected that they would make a mistake on their graduation project!

"You have to tell me what's wrong with it!" Xiang Lan said anxiously, no longer caring about maintaining her obedient demeanor. "Uncle, I really put my heart into this this time. I've been working on this character for several years, and I've even drawn many sketches and illustrations for him—"

Seeing her anxious, Liu Nanyang said, "Do you think being good-looking is beauty? Without a soul and flesh, just empty lines, it's just an empty shell of a human form. You've been well protected by your family since you were little, and your path has been arranged for you. You don't know what the real world is like. Whether you like it or not, it comes quickly and goes even faster. Without actively pursuing and mastering it, without striving for the ultimate, how can you talk about beauty? It's this kind of attitude that I really dislike."

"What should we do then?" Xiang Lan asked, bewildered.

"Go and love something real, whether it's a person or an object, give it your all, and freeze your beauty and love in that most radiant moment. Then come find me—"

Xiang Lan stuffed the manuscript back into her bag, dejectedly left Liu Nanyang's office, and kicked pebbles as she walked out of the college building, which was designed with all sorts of bizarre and fantastical appearances.

She felt somewhat desperate; at twenty-one, she had only met two men who liked this feeling.

One was her brother's childhood friend, Xiao Chenglin. He was handsome and very good at manipulating people, and he was well aware of her feelings for him. Her brother thought that he was almost ten years older than her, too slick and unreliable, and that she couldn't handle him. He tried to stop her in every way and even introduced her to male friends of the same age. She was very interested in him, but he never reciprocated her feelings. She had been thinking about him for a year, but they never even went on a date alone. In the end, he got married without saying a word, which made her very disappointed, so she gave up. The other was her sister-in-law's classmate, Monkey. He wasn't particularly good-looking, but he had a humorous and cute personality. He was willing to coax her, play with her, and understand her rebellious feelings towards her brother and parents. She struggled with this for a long time. Just when she finally put aside her preference for good-looking guys and wanted to take things further with him, her brother spoke up again, saying that Monkey was very busy with work and that when he was busy, he wouldn't have time to spend with her, and the two of them would blame each other. She wanted to argue, but Monkey disappeared first, making her very embarrassed, so she had to give up.

She was like a flower bud that was about to bloom, but was always plucked out. All her emotions were trapped in her heart, settling down day by day and forming a thick shell that prevented her from truly experiencing the world.

Is it because giving up too easily prevents one from achieving the ultimate in beauty?

If not giving up is the ultimate goal, then isn't the long-term persistence towards this virtual character considered love? Xiang Lan scoffed at Liu Nanyang's words. As for him, he was a free spirit with a colorful love life, yet he himself hadn't reached the ultimate goal, and he was using such an empty concept to demand things of her!

No matter how she looked at it, she felt that her charact

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