In Midsummer

[Sweet, well-behaved I-type girl x laid-back, cool E-type guy] -> [Rising actress x up-and-coming business magnate] [Mostly school life / a little urban life / the prologue is a reunion scene]

1

On Li Zhi's first day at Haicheng No. 1 High School, someone came toward her in the light at the stairwell. One glance, and she knew she would never forget him.

How could Li Zhi not know who he was? Lu Zhiye, the school's famous heartthrob and top student, adored by everyone, cheerful and easygoing, yet carefree and unruly.

As they passed each other, he said, "You're cute."

It was their first conversation. Li Zhi blushed, her heart racing, and fled.

But she soon realized his friendliness was simply a casual act of kindness at the request of their elders. So she hid her feelings, making sure he couldn't see a hint of them.

Later, Lu Zhiye accidentally saw the draft paper covered with his name. Her secret was out. The boy furrowed his brow. "If you want, I can pretend I never saw it."

"And what if I don't want you to?"

Later still, on the day of the hundred-day countdown ceremony, Li Zhi threw away that draft paper right in front of Lu Zhiye. She even transferred to a lower class on purpose, ending their time as classmates and desk mates.

"Whether you want to or not, just pretend it never existed."

In the deserted stairwell, the boy pinned Li Zhi in a corner. His thumb pressed against her wrist, the veins at the base of his thumb pulsing, his touch burning and dangerous, just like his gaze.

"Zhizhi, do you know what you're saying?"

2

They met again at Lu Zhiye's engagement party. He was a rising business magnate recently returned from studying abroad, while she was a popular young actress.

She attended in disguise, never expecting him to see through it. The two of them traded barbs.

"Miss Li, you wouldn't happen to still have feelings for me, would you?" The man wore a teasing expression.

"A good horse doesn't eat the grass behind it," Li Zhi replied expressionlessly.

As if to prove she meant what she said, Li Zhi immediately joined a dating reality show. Somehow, Lu Zhiye became a contestant too.

To outsiders, the two had no connection at all. No one knew about their awkward, youthful past.

During filming, his eyes were dark and deep. He forcefully cut off another man's confession to Li Zhi, brimming with jealousy, then pulled her away.

Forced to hold down the pulse in the web of his left hand, Li Zhi had no choice but to feel his heartbeat this way, just as she had so many times before.

"Zhizhi, I'm determined to eat this grass behind me."

"Past or present, it can only be me."

He had already fallen completely for her that summer when they first met...

-

[Love at first sight, a secret crush comes true, reconciliation after a breakup, one true pairing, happy ending]

[Note: 1. The engagement in the blurb is fake. 2. The leads separated, and the heroine transferred to a lower class, for reasons involving family, personal growth, and their futures. They focus on their studies at an age when they shouldn't be blinded by romance. 3. The heroine is well-behaved, but she's no pushover. 4. The students are divided into arts and science tracks; this is not the new gaokao system.]

Theme: Success in both career and love.