The Fourteenth Piece of Candy

Autumn at Shenzhen Middle School: the cicadas still sing, and waves of heat carry the restlessness of youth.

Xu Su is a cool, distant presence at this prestigious school. Mature beyond his years and aloof, he is like a plant growing alone where no one can see, accustomed to using indifference as camouflage. The cheap fruit candies in his pocket are his only cautious connection to the world.

Jian Ci is his opposite. Standing 184 centimeters tall, this Leo who calls himself “the stuff of everyone’s wildest fantasies” is a walking beacon. He is passionate and narcissistic, with the shameless audacity to believe he is the center of the world.

Their meeting begins with an unexpected collision. One is a “shadow” used to hiding; the other, a “light source” longing to be seen. Jian Ci sees Xu Su’s icy expression as a kind of “tsundere” act, while his relentless pursuit stirs up a storm in Xu Su’s world.

From their initial mutual dislike to Jian Ci closing in at every turn, he is like a beam of harsh light, barging into Xu Su’s bleak life. He wants not only to pry open Xu Su’s lips, but his heart as well.

When the thirteenth candy is gone, Xu Su finally offers him the fourteenth.

It is the only sweetness he has hidden away for seventeen years.

Theme: Between “overexposure” and “hiding too much,” finding the right degree of exposure for love