Seventeen-year-old Su Wanning is the top student in her grade. Her life motto is, “I can solve problems, but I can’t figure people out.” That is, until transfer student Jiang Yu takes the seat beside her. With refined features and a smile like melting toffee, he never does his homework or pays attention in class, yet always ranks second in exams.
Su Wanning is convinced he’s there to challenge her, and the two begin a fierce academic rivalry, neither willing to give an inch. She has no idea that Jiang Yu transferred because people at his old school kept cornering him to “tutor” them, or that he was the top scorer in the high school entrance exams in a neighboring city for three years running.
Monthly tests, midterms, competitions... Every time Su Wanning gives it everything she has to hold on to first place, Jiang Yu follows close behind, just one or two points short. She grits her teeth in frustration, while he smiles and says, “I’m happy to lose to you.”
One day, Su Wanning happens to open Jiang Yu’s notebook and finds it filled with meticulous notes on every problem she has ever explained. On the last page, he has written: “You’re the only person in the world I want to be second to.”
In a strawberry-sweet summer, a boy’s secret feelings can’t stay hidden. It turns out the one who always loses to her never wanted to win in the first place.
