The midsummer after the gaokao.
The night before, idol Ji Huai had debuted as the top vote-getter by a huge margin. The next day, he trended online for scoring nine points on his high school math exam.
Netizens' verdict: The entertainment industry has another high school dropout who slipped through the cracks.
A few years later, Ji Huai was mocked online again after misreading a character on a variety show.
A colleague told Ruan Qingling about it as a joke. For once, her mind wandered, and she thought back to one of her few encounters with Ji Huai in high school.
At the start of their first year, the boy stood with his hands in his pockets and confidently read the name in her textbook: "Ruan... Qing... Leng?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Leng, mind giving me your seat?"
Back then, he hadn't yet become the delinquent who picked fights, skipped class, and swaggered around like a spoiled brat.
Ruan Qingling smiled at the little incident and let it pass.
What she didn't know was this:
As the years went by, her name was tucked inside letters and hidden in records, becoming the thing the boy was most afraid to say aloud.
Blurb to be revised.
"A fish that slipped through the cracks of nine years of compulsory education" is a joke about someone who didn't learn much in school.
The story of a tsundere top-tier star's secret crush over many years. This is the story of the second brother from Beloved Cherry Blossom.
No characters are based on real people. The entertainment industry plays only a small part, and there is no idol misconduct.
Tsundere, cocky show-off x outwardly cold but inwardly gentle; illiterate x highly educated
Theme: Pursuit
