Shattered Jade and Cicada Song tells the story of Lin Weiran, the top student at an elite high school, and Jiang Yi, the school’s notorious delinquent, whose paths become unexpectedly entangled after an incident of bullying.
Lin Weiran’s world once consisted only of formulas and exam topics. But after she sees Jiang Yi step in to protect a girl who is being bullied, she catches a glimpse of the complicated edges beneath his arrogant exterior. Jiang Yi is a troubled boy who seems to be “good at” everything from fighting to cutting class. The scar on his left brow conceals a past no one knows about, while the iodine and gauze he always carries in his pocket suggest he has long been used to tending his wounds alone. A school “peer support” program forces the two of them closer. On the library’s notebook of wrong answers, alongside the dense annotations, appear clumsy doodles of cicadas and lightning bolts. During a confrontation in an old warehouse, Jiang Yi shields Lin Weiran from danger with his scarred back, revealing that he was not born violent; he has simply learned to hide his softness behind his fists.
As they grow closer, Lin Weiran discovers that Jiang Yi is actually Chen Yi, the long-lost son of the academic dean. A broken half of a jade pendant brings to light the childhood trauma of being abandoned. And through Lin Weiran’s persistence, Jiang Yi finds himself wanting, for the first time, to put away his sharp edges for someone and pick up a textbook. Li Tao’s malicious provocations, undercurrents within their families, old photographs long buried away, and anonymous text messages draw them into an even deeper whirlpool.
This is a story of redemption and growth: a top student uses knowledge and tenderness to dismantle the delinquent’s hard shell, while the delinquent’s clumsy devotion gives the top student a clear sky to stand beneath. As cicadas sing through the height of summer, the broken jade will at last be made whole. In each other’s light, two lonely souls learn to come to terms with the past and face the exam hall called “the future” side by side.
