Scars of a Tart Lemon

[Coming of age + bittersweet ending + ensemble cast + mutual redemption]

“Your love for me isn’t even one ten-thousandth of my pain.”

The wind was so strong that afternoon, it blew Ye Zhining and Wang Xingye farther and farther apart.

From their initial dislike to mutual admiration, and then to the hurt that followed, Ye Zhining never imagined she would become so entangled with him.

“I’ll never bully you. You can feel safe with me behind you,” he said.

“She’s the one who won’t leave me alone,” he said again.

A single casual sentence pinned Ye Zhining to the gallows of rumor.

Thankfully, pure friendship can redeem the soul. When isolation and insults were close to crushing her, her best friend Zhang Huaishu pulled her back from the edge.

“I told you ages ago he wasn’t good enough for you. Forget all that. I really need you.”

One page of her diary was stuffed with candy wrappers. She never opened it again.

Sincerity and lies existed side by side, like lemon-flavored hard candy: fresh and sweet, with a hint of sourness.