Lemon Soda Candy

[Both volumes of the print edition are now available. For details, visit Weibo @Su A Su Shi Wu. The next book will be Do You Know or Secret]

In high school, the second boldest thing Zhou Anran ever did was secretly slip two lemon soda candies into Chen Luobai’s desk on a day when he looked particularly unhappy.

Back then, he was a favored prodigy, admired by everyone.

She was an ordinary classmate whose name he couldn’t even remember.

When they met again in college, Zhou Anran, who had fought tooth and nail to get into a top university, still didn’t stand out among all the academic stars. Chen Luobai, meanwhile, became the talk of the campus again the moment he arrived.

Zhou Anran thought they would never cross paths again, but one day in an elective class, Chen Luobai slipped two identical lemon soda candies into her desk.

“Have you ever tried these?” he asked, seemingly offhand.

Zhou Anran’s heart skipped a beat. She lowered her head and said nothing.

Chen Luobai continued, “I know these candies because someone once secretly slipped two into my desk in high school. While everyone else was putting love letters in there, she only left me two candies. But…”

He stopped.

Zhou Anran couldn’t help turning her head to look at him. Her eyes met his at once, finding them smiling yet intent. He looked at her as if there were something more behind his words.

“They were pretty sweet.”

Later, on the night he kissed her for the first time, he said the same thing.

One day, everything you hope for will come true.

[Reading Notes]

1. A story about a secret crush; both leads are each other’s first love. The heroine is introverted and stays that way in the end.

2. Both leads have happy families. This isn’t a healing-through-love story, but a slow-burn slice of life with a touch of an ensemble cast.

Blurb archived on 2022/02/23

Secret

Leaving the mountains to attend high school in the big city, Lin Xi’s heavily accented Mandarin, faded clothes, and carefully portioned meals in the cafeteria all gave away where she came from.

Lin Xi didn’t care.

Because she had farther places to go.

There was only one secret she didn’t want to reveal, and absolutely could not reveal.

She had secretly fallen in love with her best friend Shen Tingjing’s older brother.

At the two most desperate moments of her life, two people had saved her.

One of them was Shen Tingchuan.

The girlish feelings she had buried beneath the crushing pressures of life briefly surfaced at that moment. Holding on to a glimmer of hope, she looked up at him through tear-blurred eyes and asked:

“Why are you so good to me?”

The young man still bore the injuries he’d sustained saving her. Hearing her question, he smiled and reached out to pat her head. “You’re my sister’s best friend. My mom practically considers you her goddaughter. Isn’t this only natural?”

And so those girlish feelings were buried even deeper. Lin Xi followed Shen Tingjing’s lead and began calling him “Brother” too, no longer daring to entertain any improper thoughts.

After graduating from high school, Lin Xi went to college and found work in a faraway city in the north, leaving her old life behind and keeping her distance from Shen Tingchuan. Even when she went back to visit Shen Tingjing, she deliberately avoided the times he would be home.

She had finally left those mountains behind and seen the dawn of a new life. Even if she couldn’t let go of those faint girlish feelings, she couldn’t speak of them either. She should be content.

But Lin Xi never expected to run into Shen Tingchuan again by chance, much less that the feelings buried deep in her heart, which she’d thought could only rot away, would see the light of day and bloom into the most dazzling flowers.

Late at night.

The handsome man, sweat beading densely across his brow and jaw, smiled as he reached out to cover her mouth.

“Maybe don’t call me ‘Brother’ right now. It feels kind of… sinful.”

-School and city life, with a two-year age gap

-The title and blurb may change

Do You Know

Xie Zhiheng had recently begun to suspect that a girl in his grade named Ning Yao might like him.

For several days in a row, she took a detour past his classroom. Each time, she secretly glanced his way through the window, and whenever their eyes met, she would immediately look away, flustered.

Sure enough, after school on Friday afternoon, Xie Zhiheng received a friend request from her.

He had just finished playing basketball and accidentally tapped “Ignore” as his finger slipped.

A second friend request arrived from her almost immediately.

Xie Zhiheng: “…”

So persistent. Did she really like him that much?

This time, Xie Zhiheng accepted.

Almost as soon as he did, he received Ning Yao’s first message.

“Do you know”

Leaning lazily against the basketball hoop, Xie Zhiheng thought: How could I not know? It’s so obvious.

His phone buzzed softly. A second message appeared on the screen

“Your dad seems to be dating my mom.”

Xie Zhiheng: “?”

Theme: Like someone who deserves to be liked.