Wild Spring Tides, Summer Days

Next-Door Childhood Sweetheart Falls in Love × Next-Door Childhood Friend Holds His Ground

They flirt like their lives depend on it. Whoever admits it first is a dog.

1. Not close

In front of people, her best friend says, "Taozi, you and Yan Zhuo, you two... tsk, tsk, tsk."

Xie Xitao: "Thanks, but we're just so-so."

In private, after an overnight revelation, she reaches out to him without hesitation. "Give me a hug."

Yan Zhuo: "Didn't you get enough hugs when we were kids?"

Xie Xitao: "Fine, fine. I guess this poor childhood sweetheart isn't good enough for you..."

"You're impossible."

At the turn of the stairs, he pulls her into his arms, the orange glow of dusk spilling across their shoulders.

2. Too close

"What do you think of Tang Wei's vibe?" On movie night, she lays a trap for him.

Yan Zhuo: "Just say it."

Xie Xitao: "How about we turn off the lights and... watch her famous movie?"

3. Close enough to have no manners

Xie Xitao burps in front of Yan Zhuo.

Her mother is embarrassed.

Xie Mom: "She usually doesn't do that at home."

Yan Zhuo: "Really? She does it all the time at my place."

Xie Mom: "..."

Yan Zhuo: "Burping is only natural. I usually don't say anything."

Xie Mom breathes a sigh of relief.

Yan Zhuo: "Though every now and then, I do say something."

Xie Mom tenses up again.

Yan Zhuo: "When she eats sweet potatoes and farts, I tell her to open a window because it smells so bad."

Xie Mom nearly faints.

4. Close enough to bait him

Xie Xitao: "If we don't watch Lust, Caution, Atonement works too."

After the movie, she points at the bookcase the leads kiss against.

"Do you think my room is missing a bookcase?"

Her best friend breaks her lip kissing someone, then claims she got hurt because the bowl was too sharp.

Xie Xitao turns to him. "Yan Zhuo, how come you don't have bowls like that at your place?"

Coming Soon: Carbonated Crisis Casebook

In early spring, Wen Zhao is reading in a corner when she sees Jiang Jun getting into a group fight.

He's ruthless, with a vicious hand.

After it's over, the man comes over and snatches her book.

"If you don't want trouble, stay away."

The next day, Wen Zhao finds Jiang Jun to get her book back.

He narrows his eyes and gives her a half-smile, then finally tosses her a hundred yuan. "Go buy one."

Wen Zhao: "You read my book, so you owe me interest."

Jiang Jun gives a cold snort. "Let's hear it."

Wen Zhao: "Protect me."

Jiang Jun thinks: What kind of clueless idiot is this?

At the end of winter, the back street of Jicheng Vocational and Technical College is swept by a cutting wind, sharp as a knife against the face.

In the shadow of the thin moon, the man lowers his head.

His voice is soft, and he smiles. "You're fierce again."

Wen Zhao rolls her eyes, slaps a bandage onto the middle of his forehead, opens a bottle of soda, and sits on the stone steps.

The fizz of the drink in the night wind makes her blood boil for no reason.

Jiang Jun sits beside her, takes the drink, and gulps some down. "You really plan to apply to Jiaotong University? Think you can get in?"

Wen Zhao: "I can."

Jiang Jun: "If I don't..."

Wen Zhao looks at him. There's not a trace of hesitation in her cold eyes.

"If you don't get in, we're done."

"Will you find someone at your new school to protect you?"

"Yes." No hesitation.

He curls his lips into a smile. "Good. Then I can relax."

His slender fingers crush the can. He flicks it into a distant trash can, and over the clatter, Jiang Jun says:

"Fine, then we'll each rely on our own abilities."

"Wen Zhao, even if we separate, don't forget to crawl your way up like a dog."

A selfish, scheming, crazy beauty × a cold-faced, devoted, insecure man

Please add it to your reading list!

Theme: Study hard and keep improving every day.