A Slight Smile is Very Charming
If I knew that, one day, I would love you this much, then I would have definitely fallen in love with you at first sight.
[Update] The series and movie “Love 020” released in 2016 were both based on this book.
I am happy to announce our next project, A Slight Smile is Very Charming (微微一笑很倾城) by Gu Man (顾漫). It is a cute and upbeat love story. No angst. No waiting in despair. Just a story of two people who meet in an unconventional way and become a part of each other’s lives. What I love about this novel is that not only is the male lead handsome and smart, the female lead can also hold a candle to him in both beauty and brains. Together, they are quite a formidable pair, spicing up the lives of those around them.
The title of the book is actually a play on the name of the main female character, Wei Wei (微微). And the archaic meaning of Qing Chen (倾城) is
A drop-dead gorgeous woman; a beauty who could drive a man to distraction; a woman so beautiful, that he might be tempted to ignore his duties at court, and thus bring about the downfall of his empire. – Wordsense
In that sense, the name of this novel also can mean “It is Very Charming When Wei Wei Smiles” or “Wei Wei is Drop-Dead Gorgeous When She Smiles.”
While this story is much shorter than Li Chuan’s Past (by about half), it’s actually a bit more difficult to translate. However, I fully agree with this praise of the book: “A story that you read for a minute and will happy love it. A story that you read a hundred times and will still smile over it.” I can’t count how many times I’ve read the novel and listened to the audio books anymore. It’s brought a great deal of smile and laughter to me. So, please bear with us as we work our way through this project and share this lovely story with you.
[EXCERPT]
She looks at the bike, looks at Great Master, then, the beautiful Wei Wei stutters, “This, this, I…”
Xiao Nai frowns slightly.
Wei Wei composes herself, “…You’ll take me?”
“Uh huh, then would you walk such a long distance?”
Walking the long distance to the basketball court is, of course, frightening. But, but, what’s more frightening is if you take me!!!
Wei Wei grieves in indignation!
This older schoolmate, with your great reputation plus her small reputation, doesn’t riding on a bike like this cause romance rumors to spread immediately! Although they apparently, vaguely, seem to be suspiciously taking a step towards the romance side, right now, at this moment, they are more innocent than the most innocent of lambs….
“This, this isn’t too appropriate, right? Other people will misunderstand when they see us.” Wei Wei tries hard to gracefully turn it down. Her ears are already starting to become a bit pink.
“Misunderstand?”
Can it be that he doesn’t understand? Wei Wei is forced to summon up her courage to say it directly, “Misunderstand that we are eh, in that kind of relationship…”
Xiao Nai calmly gazes at her without speaking for quite a while. Indescribably, Wei Wei starts feeling nervous…Did she say something wrong?
Just as she starts feeling more and more nervous, Xiao Nai finally, slowly speaks, “When were we not in that kind of relationship?”