I Don’t Like This World, I Only Like You / All the Things I Like About You / Only You Are What I Love, Not This World (Le Coup De Foudre) 我不喜欢这世界，我只喜欢你 by 乔一 Qiao Yi (Joey)(HE)

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• This is a story that details how two very normal people, Mr. F and Joey, meet and fall in love. The story is a re-telling of the author’s very own life, with the main focus being placed on her love life and is written in a rather interesting format – in short, small, non-chronological anecdotes relating specific incidents that she found interesting.

  The story documents how the male and female leads first met as students, how they subsequently separated, how they eventually reunited, and finally got married. Along the way, we’re also introduced to interesting characters such as the female lead’s best friend, brother, and mother-in-law, who have their interesting side stories as well.

  The male lead is portrayed as a man with a somewhat poisonous tongue and cold exterior, but with a very warm heart while the female lead is a rather bubbly and optimistic person. Her happy-go-lucky attitude is the main reason why the male lead appears to be so lovable and “flawless”, because the female lead is recounting the story and she has a tendency to see the best in everyone. The male lead acknowledges this in a short interview at the end of the book, and it’s nice to see his point of view after listening to the female lead recount the story for a large part of the book.

  Their relationship is rather sweet, with very little upsets and quarrels being recounted; so the entire book is a rather simple and easy read, and is especially suitable for readers who are in the mood for a simple book to recuperate from heavier readings. Although simple, this story still manages to leave readers with a deep impression and feelings of happiness. The rare few poignant moments also allows one to reflect on deeper issues, but this is not developed further in the book.

• Despite the language being really simple, Joey (the author) manages to convey touching and light hearted scenes very well. The two more memorable scenes that left an impression on me (amongst many others, of course) are the following.

  The following scene occurs when Mr F. and Joey were separated during their university years and were in the midst of a cold war.

  [spoiler]
  We were high school classmates. When he was studying, he was exactly like how he is now – although he appeared to be extremely cool on the surface with a poisonous tongue, he had an extremely good heart within. Subsequently, because of various incidents, coupled with our immaturity at that point in time, we severed our friendship.

  He went to England to study, and we lost contact for many years. During one of our class reunion dinners, someone mentioned that he had previously dialed Mr. F’s old number by accident and surprisingly, the call actually managed to connect. It was then that I realized that Mr. F had kept his original number all these years.

  “But isn’t it very inconvenient for him, since he is staying overseas?”

  Nobody could understand why Mr. F chose to retain his original number, but the final conclusion we reached was that the mind of a great genius is not something we mere mortals can possibly understand.

  Not long afterward, Mr. F’s birthday arrived. I mustered sufficient courage to send him a text message, hugging my phone throughout the night. But there was no reply. On the second day, he finally replied, with a very distant and courteous phrase – “Thank you.”

  When he subsequently returned to China, I brought a body solely filled with courage and travelled to Beijing to look for him. There, we made up and decided to be together. One day, whilst rifling through his bookshelf, I found the Nokia N97 that he used in the past. I turned it on – the call history and messages were all deleted, and only the draft folder for text messages had anything left. Out of curiosity, I clicked it. There were more than ten draft messages inside the folder.

  "Today, I met a girl at ASDA who looked like you."

  "Paul came out with a new album, and it feels like you’re sitting right next to me when I listen to his songs."

  "The weather has grown colder in Changsha, so remember to keep warm and wear more clothes."

  "I forgive you, so please give me a call."

  …

  The final message was: "I really miss you."

  The time of the message was his birthday.

  [/spoiler]

  Conversely, this scene occurred in their high school days, when Mr. F and Joey were deskmates.

  [spoiler]
  If Mr. F is “the man who can recall everything at first sight”, I would be the “woman who is unable to recall anything despite multiple sights.”

  My math was terribly poor, whereas his was excellent. Whenever we sat for our exams, he would always solve the questions at lightning speed, and basically only required half an hour to complete the paper, after which he would stare out of the window and drift into a daze. It was only then that I dared to sneak a few peeks at his answer sheet and copy his answers.

  I continuously comforted myself whilst copying – after all, the Bible says that “It is more blessed to give than to receive”; therefore, what I’m doing does not constitute cheating, I’m simply helping Mr. F rack up points so that he’d be able to obtain more blessings in the future.

  The process usually goes like this:

  (Sneaks a few peeks at his answer sheet) ACBCD, BCAAD, okay, got it.

  (Buries my head and furiously scribbles the answers) BCAAD, BD… What was it again? Darn! I forgot!

  (Sneaks a few more peeks stealthily) Oh oh, it’s BCAAD…

  (Buries head again) Wait… Was the final answer B or D? I didn’t look properly!

  Just when I was about to take another look at his answer sheet, I discovered that this person had actually folded his answer sheet into half!

  I looked up in surprise – only to find him staring at me silently, with an expression of disdain etched on his face.

  I managed to squeak out a hollow laughter, and tried my best to recall whether the final answer was B or D, but to no avail.

  Finally, a cold voice rang out, “It’s D.”

  …

  He complained disparagingly, “You can’t even copy properly? So stupid.”

  I could only grit my teeth and silently bear the insults for the better good, instead choosing to act as if I didn’t hear anything.
  [/spoiler]

• So sweetttttt, it's just what I need, short and fluffy, no tradgedy and angst. After all the drama in long novels this is awesome! Thanks for intriducing it! <3

• Thanks for sharing this! I read it on my commute home yesterday and it was perfect after an exhausting work day. How I wish I had someone like her husband!

• @ Sparklingdawnlights @tammy

  I agree, I tend to pick these kind of short sweet novels after reading long heavy novels because I need time to recuperate from the excessive emotional drama sometimes. Glad you guys enjoyed it :D I guess I find it all the more sweeter since it's a real life reflection of what happened to Joey and Mr. F, and not just fictional characters (:

• It is so sweet in the most down to earth yet heartwarming kind of way=)

• Awww ... so sweet!! Thanks for the recommend and for translating two scenes from the book. Will probably check this out.

• Anyone knows the Viet title? Thanks!

• The story is so sweet! >_<
  ah...if only there's a full translation of this story.... hiks

• This is one of the sweetest book that can really brighten your day. It has many well written thoughts and dialogues that totally had my heart beating and awwing and feeling all happy for this sweet couple. Love Mr. F! This story totally hits the spot that life can be super sweet. I’m sure I will be rereading this in the future!