How Many More Summers?

[Main story complete. Fixing typos and patching plot holes...]

"Night falls, cicadas sleep, and the morning breeze brushes the willow-lined shore. So how many more summers will it take before I can stand before you openly, wearing a white shirt and pleated skirt?"

From Sheng Xiaoyue's college entrance exam declaration

At the start of the new semester, students were signing up for an activity where they could choose their own desk mates. Sheng Yiyue had always hated trouble, so she wrote "anyone" on the form.

She never expected to find that after the semester began, her desk was the only one sitting alone in the corner.

Without a desk mate, Sheng Yiyue felt like a little cabbage battered by wind and rain.

That night, she made a wish to the... behind of a shooting star: Heaven, please give me a desk mate. Even a gorilla would do.

To her surprise, the next day, Heaven really did send her a gorilla (not really).

*

[Blunt, fast-talking, cool beauty x seemingly kind B-king with eight hundred schemes up his sleeve]

A story about a beauty and a gorilla.

Hope you enjoy reading~ Kisses~

Coming soon: "Out of Character"

In one sentence: An aloof beauty will do just about anything for love (fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh...?)

*Troublemaking Beijing heir × down-on-her-luck heiress

Shu Yan hated awkwardness more than anything.

Unfortunately, Jin Chi watched from the sidelines during the two most awkward moments of her life.

The first time was at the old family home in the Beijing suburbs.

Shu Yan tried to show off by climbing a tree to pick a citron, then found she couldn't get back down.

As snow fell in soft flurries, she wailed from the tree all afternoon. Jin Chi sat in the covered walkway nearby, cracking sunflower seeds and watching her with cold indifference.

The second time was during Ming University student council recruitment.

Shu Yan was so nervous during her interview that she nearly stuttered: "I'm very happy to join this big family in the Stu...dent Life Department."

The problem was, she was interviewing for the External Relations Department.

That night, department head Jin Chi held the stack of resumes in his hands and snapped, "I told you to recruit people, not pretty ornaments!"

The deputy head felt wronged: But the people who aren't pretty ornaments don't dare come to the interview...

Because of these two unpleasant memories, Shu Yan tried to keep her distance from Jin Chi after joining the department.

At meetings, she sat as far away from him as possible. When assigned to duty, she always picked days he wasn't there.

But you can dodge the first day of the lunar month, not the fifteenth.

The Beijing Opera Society's opening production of the year was abruptly abandoned by its sponsor, forcing the two of them to work overtime together for an entire month. Onstage, they sang and performed; backstage, they carried on a secret affair.

Shu Yan, after avoiding him for days: Forget it. I'll accept my fate.

Jin Chi, worn down until he had no fight left: Why are you playing hard to get with me?

*

Everyone knew Ming University had a Beijing heir whose background was unfathomable.

Before graduation, his property was already worth hundreds of millions. His license plate didn't just start with the letter A; it had a rare string of repeating numbers.

He looked like a handsome troublemaker who got away with anything, but the people around him were always above reproach. After the campus beauties and department beauties all hit a wall, everyone guessed that a man like Jin Chi, with his background, would only care about a woman's family.

Three months later, people noticed that Jin Chi seemed to have a young woman by his side.

The girl had no money, no influence, and no family background. The only thing she had was a face so pure and beautiful it was almost reckless.

Everyone assumed Jin Chi was just playing around. After all, their family backgrounds were so different that even the onlookers couldn't imagine them actually getting together.

Yet six months later, instead of news that they had broken up, everyone heard that they were engaged.

Jin Chi: Don't ask. It's a family-arranged marriage, that's all.

Shu Yan: ...Have some shame.

*Unrequited love comes true / mutual healing / the pursuit of love with a dramatic reckoning

*Both leads are virgins

Message: Studying hard is the only real truth.