*Prologue: Shi Chen ran along the completely exposed field ridge. The scorching sun chased after him, as if it meant to melt him alive. Still, Shi Chen wandered aimlessly through the fields.
The haze thickened, shrouding the grove.
The grove wasn't large, but it was a sought-after patch of shade beneath the blazing sun.
Nan Qian stared at Shi Chen's face and said, perfectly serious,
"There's a little bug on your face."
Shi Chen panicked and rubbed his face haphazardly. The other boy watched him with a smile and reached out to pinch his cheek.
"I'm teasing you."
Shi Chen froze for a moment, then ran back into the fields.
Nan Qian watched him go. He looked like a wandering ghost on the field ridge, his footprints fading into a shadow that stretched all the way to the horizon.
Nan Qian glanced at the big tree nearby and blinked.
Who knew when he'd come back next time?
*(Blurb)
Beneath a towering Chinese scholar tree, the blossoms were falling.
The evening breeze was gentle. Beneath the tree, Nan Qian watched the blossoms drift down.
The wind passed through the branches, stirring the other boy's thick, long lashes.
"Xiao Shi, would you like to be my boyfriend?"
When Shi Chen first met Nan Qian, he called him Big Brother Qian.
Later, Nan Qian called him Xiao Shi.
At some point, Big Brother Qian became a secret he couldn't speak aloud.
Xiao Shi became the love buried deep in that summer.
Theme: None
