The Long Summer Days

[Next up: a story about a sickly beauty who falls in love at first sight and becomes everyone's darling]

Lu Zheng took his students deep into the mountains to document wild plants. They accidentally wandered into a remote, sparsely populated primitive tribe, just in time for the coming-of-age ceremony of its beautiful divine son, who appeared like a heavenly immortal and only emerged once every eighteen years.

According to local custom, whoever the adult divine son's enormous flower crown landed on would have to lie with him and do their best to conceive the next divine son.

The divine son must have had poor eyesight. As the bamboo palanquin passed, a pale hand placed the flower crown on Lu Zheng's head. Covered in dust and dressed in a shabby, mustard-yellow work uniform, he looked as though he'd rolled around in the mud.

Lu Zheng: ? I'm a man.

The students: Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

The divine son: You're so tall. I set it down without thinking. It looks good on you.

Lu Zheng respected the tribe's customs, but he didn't want to spend his whole life stuck in the mountains, so he decided to sneak out with his students.

The mountain paths were tangled and difficult to traverse.

Torches from the tribe were hot on their heels.

Just as they reached a dead end, a hand grabbed him.

The divine son, who was said never to have left his attic, moved through the forest even faster than Lu Zheng, a burly man standing six foot three. He was as nimble as a forest deer.

"Where do you want to go?"

"Down the mountain."

"What about me? Are we going to be apart?" The divine son was nearly in tears.

Lu Zheng respected the local customs, but decided to do something that would outrage his ancestors: he was going to take the divine son with him.

The tribe had ancient books written in the Lili Dragon script, passed down through generations.

They recorded the meaning of a dajin.

Su He had always looked forward to the day he came of age. He hoped to meet someone extraordinary, someone who would change his life.

Until that day, when he spotted Lu Zheng in the crowd at first sight.

Extraordinary.

Like a mud-covered monkey.

Note: "dajin" means "beloved."

An innocent, naturally seductive, skin-hungry primitive shou x a flirtatious, taciturn university professor in work clothes, a brawler with maxed-out combat ability

Content warnings:

☆ The gong leads his students into the wilderness from the start, where they meet. The main story focuses on the divine son shou, with both characters' perspectives and development featured later. ☆

The author doesn't favor either the gong or the shou, and won't try to give them equal treatment. Everything serves the story.

The protagonists respect and love each other. No one could love either of them more than they love one another.

Entirely fictional setting, with a primitive tribe. The ethnic customs, botany, geography, and ecological environment are based on research and a fair amount of invention. Please don't expect rigorous historical accuracy.

The shou has long hair and wears tribal clothing similar to a skirt. He grows and changes, and his personality shifts over time.

[Some old-fashioned bittersweet, melodramatic tropes]

[Marriage Before Love] [Reunion After a Breakup]

First love for both + happy ending

Upcoming in the author's collection: When a Love-at-First-Sight Guy Transmigrates into a Sickly Cannon Fodder Beauty

Shu Bai, a love-at-first-sight addict, transmigrated into a cannon fodder shou in a wealthy-family crematorium romance.

But the legitimate gong, who made a scene and threw tantrums, couldn't interest him at all. On the contrary, the protagonist shou, who was polite and scholarly and applied ice to his injured foot, was exactly his dream lover!

"Dr. Ye, would you go on a date with me?"

A textbook love-at-first-sight move: go straight for it.

What does it mean to be a love-at-first-sight addict?

It means falling in love immediately.

In short, Shu Bai builds a house on the beach. He's completely out of control.

He likes teachers when he's taking exams, coaches when he's working out, and doctors when he's getting medical treatment. Falling in love at first sight is as commonplace for him as eating three meals a day.

A conservative estimate puts the time from falling in love to getting bored at just over two weeks.

Dr. Ye, whom he liked a moment ago, is suddenly a thing of the past. A cool, erudite professor of international trade is the real dreamboat!

"Professor, would you like to try some cookies I baked myself?"

But you can get tired of cookies too. A handsome, athletic guy sweating it out on the field is more suited to someone Shu Bai's age: youthful and full of energy. A puppy-like campus heartthrob is the absolute best.

"Hey, I bought you some water. Can we get to know each other? I'm Shu Bai."

Shu Bai's directness and good looks made him a legend at A University. In just two months, he flirted with the gentle, gentlemanly campus doctor, the cool and erudite professor, and the athletic campus heartthrob, one after another, then dumped them all, leaving heartbreak everywhere.

Some people said that someone like Shu Bai would eventually get what was coming to him.

Sure enough, the novel's plot arrived, and he was engaged to the cannon fodder gong.

At the glittering banquet, Shu Bai spotted a man from across the room. In an instant, the electric jolt of love at first sight hit him again.

"Hello, sir. My name is Shu Bai. Would you like to have a drink with me?"

Zheng Zhongxing had come to attend his nephew's engagement party, only to be openly hit on by his future nephew-in-law. "Won't your lover mind?"

Shu Bai held his wineglass to his lips. "You haven't said yes yet. How could I have a lover?"

Nearly thirty, Zheng Zhongxing fell in love with a little minx. Then his little minx pulled up his pants and turned cold. "Let's break up, Mr. Zheng."

After joining the "Shu Bai's Heartbroken Ex-Boyfriends Tribe," Zheng Rongzhang discovered that he wasn't the only one this brat had wrapped around his finger.

Dr. Ye: Xiao Bai is just too young. Sooner or later, he'll understand that I'm the one who's best for him.

Professor Fu: Xiao Bai and I are the perfect match. Our souls are one.

Campus heartthrob Shen: Shu Bai belongs to me! He said I was his favorite!

Mr. Zheng: ...

Rather than getting jealous, he prefers to take action.

How many steps does it take to tame a playboy? Er, a love-at-first-sight addict?

An insider answers: three.

Take him back, lock him up, and make sure he can't get out of bed.

An impulsive, beautiful, adored-by-all, sickly playboy shou with a fishing-line romance style x a gentlemanly, gentle-on-the-outside, suit-wearing thug with a fiercely possessive gong

Theme: Protecting traditional folk customs is essential.