He's Cool as Ink, but He Has a Soft Spot for Xia Qing

When Nancheng No. 1 High School reshuffles its senior-year classes, Xia Qing unexpectedly ends up seated beside Chen Mo, who's held the top spot in the grade for years.

He's always been so cold and distant that girls across the school go out of their way to avoid him. Yet with her, he makes exception after exception.

He moves the piles of papers cluttering her desk, quietly hands her a spare black pen, and patiently points out the traps in the question stems that she missed.

Everyone else thinks it's just coincidence. Only Jiang Yu sees the truth: Chen Mo's double standards are ingrained to the bone.

During a casual chat about their old middle school, Xia Qing suddenly remembers a rainy evening years ago, when an unfamiliar boy stood with her under a black umbrella as they waited for her parents.

A scrap of the old umbrella, hidden between their desks, unravels the secret bond the two have kept hidden for years.

Senior-year exam papers pile up, the countdown ticks away day by day, and the boy's feelings stay buried in the gap between their desks, too timid to be spoken aloud.

He is quiet and distant with everyone else. Every bit of warmth and favoritism in his eyes is reserved for Xia Qing alone.

After enduring a bitter summer of endless practice questions, the cicadas fall silent, and the aloof top student sheds his indifference and boldly sets off for the clear skies that belong to him.