That Summer No One Knew About

Lin Jianxia has a secret no one knows: she has had a crush on Cheng Xu for three whole years.

Cheng Xu is the brightest sunshine of summer. He casually ruffles her hair, tilts his umbrella toward her in the pouring rain, and keeps her company late at night as they chat about nothing in particular.

These almost flirtatious gestures of tenderness are a sweetness Lin Jianxia keeps to herself, and a mystery she turns over in her mind again and again.

Could he maybe like me just a little, too?

As the college entrance exams drew near, a medical checkup revealed that she had cancer. She thought she would quietly spend whatever time she had left keeping her secret.

That midsummer, when the cicadas were at their loudest, Lin Jianxia received news from her alcoholic father that he had arranged her engagement.

All her father saw was a face he could sell for money.

"The Zhao family is willing to pay three hundred thousand in bride price. That's enough to cover my gambling debts. You're getting engaged next month. You don't get a choice."

There was no love, only calculation.

Her future had been given a price tag, to fill the bottomless pit at home.

She resigned herself to it and began silently distancing herself from Cheng Xu, burying her unspoken crush before she could confess it.

Then Cheng Xu noticed something was wrong and stopped her in a narrow alley. His eyes held a panic and determination she had never seen before. "Lin Jianxia, what's going on with you? Tell me!"

She lowered her head, afraid to look him in the eye. Her voice was so soft it seemed ready to break. "Cheng Xu, stop looking for me... I have to marry someone."

The young man froze, as if all the light in his eyes had gone out at once.

The next moment, he grabbed her wrist tightly. His eyes were bloodshot, but full of desperate resolve.

"It's three hundred thousand, right? I'll earn it."

"Lin Jianxia, wait for me."

That summer, her secret love and the life she had been forced to pawn away saw a selfless light for the first time.

That summer, no one knew her secret. At last, it came to light.

Theme: Love can overcome anything.