Bitter Summer

This story has been signed for publication in simplified Chinese. The print edition will include exclusive bonus chapters. Updates on the schedule will be posted on Weibo.

[Mutual scheming and a brutal romance battlefield where the man suffers] For her, love is a means to an end.

When Yan Li was seventeen, she met Jiang Que, an exemplary student who seemed as pure and bright as the moon. Everyone else thought he was wonderful in every way. She knew what dark, violent rage lurked beneath his human skin.

She was neither happy nor sad, and she was good at plotting.

She knew Jiang Que had ulterior motives for approaching her, but to escape the filthy life she'd been born into, she pretended not to know and played along with his false affection. Then, once she'd achieved her goal, she ruthlessly dumped the madman Jiang Que, dead weight and all.

Life is a play, and all that matters is your acting.

When Jiang Que was seventeen, Yan Li taught him the words "love given in vain."

His perfect life, which had always gone smoothly, was destroyed when he was seventeen, in a war of love fought without a single shot.

When he first deliberately approached her to take revenge for a purpose he couldn't speak aloud, he never imagined he'd end up in such a wretched state.

After losing Yan Li, Jiang Que went completely mad.

Reader's guide and warnings: Set in a semi-fictional world. Both leads are virgins, and the man is the one who suffers. The female lead is mildly mistreated by supporting characters and her parents, but the male lead really does approach her for revenge early on. In the middle and later parts, he pursues her desperately to win her back.

Synopsis written on September 27, 2020, and posted on Weibo. The original can be verified.

Coming soon: Chen Jun's Secret

Synopsis: At a childhood-friends reunion, the first thing a friend said to Li Yihe was, "I ran into Chen Jun a few days ago."

"Remember him? He used to sit behind you, from elementary school through middle school."

"Now he's a total heartthrob. He's over six feet tall, doing grad school at a prestigious university, and his profile looks a bit like Takuya Kimura's."

The friend sighed repeatedly. "What a shame. If I'd known he'd turn out like this, I would've chased him when we were kids."

Li Yihe racked her brain, but still couldn't remember anyone by that name.

At twenty-three, Li Yihe had graduated from a third-rate college. She was still on probation at a job that paid 3,500 yuan a month. With an average build and an ordinary face she rarely bothered to dress up, her several crushes and relationships had all come to nothing. She was an utterly ordinary person among the masses.

The man her friend described was someone she couldn't even dream of.

After the reunion dinner, Li Yihe walked away in a daze, then suddenly remembered Chen Jun.

It must have been early summer sometime in the 2000s, with cicadas buzzing restlessly and the first light of morning faint in the sky.

Chen Jun sat behind her. He was quiet, short, pale, and so unremarkable that he barely registered. He always had his tagalong cousin by his side.

Whenever their moral education class ended, he would gently pat her back, interrupting her playtime with the slacker desk mate she had a crush on.

"Li Yihe, recite your lesson for me." That was Chen Jun's catchphrase.

After a drunk-driving accident, Li Yihe woke up back in the year she was twelve.

Theme: Love and redemption