Summer Tides

1. Li Nanxing really hates her new deskmate.

This deskmate has a sour face and is arrogant and cold... He's top of the grade and excels in both character and academics...

Good students are all annoying.

Whatever. If you can't afford to provoke someone, you can at least avoid them, right?

Li Nanxing drags her chair away, leaving a Suez Canal between them. That very night, she gets a Love Mail order...

"Nanxing, could you please pass this love letter to Zhou Shixu? I really like him."

"No."

"If I don't let him know, I'll regret it for the rest of high school."

"No."

"I'll buy you a liter of milk if you do!"

"...Fine. Wait here."

Li Nanxing unwillingly slaps the thing down in front of Zhou Shixu. "Here."

Zhou Shixu pauses. "What does this mean?"

"Can't you open it and read it yourself?"

It's well-written, full of feeling, and beautifully expressed.

There's only one small thing missing.

It's got everything, except a signature.

Li Nanxing: ...Would you believe me if I said I haven't loved you so much that I cried thinking about you in the middle of the night?

2. Everyone notices that Zhou the Iceberg, who never used to eat at school or stay for evening study hall, has changed. He's always showing up in the cafeteria and study rooms, and nobody knows why.

His buddy can't take it anymore. "Have you run into some kind of trouble lately?"

The usually sour-faced Zhou the Iceberg actually has a hint of a smile in his eyes. "Yeah, it's a little tricky."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Catching someone."

"?"

"This puppy keeps running off and biting me whenever I chase after her."

Buddy: …?

3. Li Nanxing thought a boy's love was just a passing whim, like a sunshower that evaporates the moment it hits the ground.

But when she wanted to leave, he refused to let go.

That day's rain clouded the boy's deep eyes. His voice hoarse, he said, "We're not breaking up."

4. Five years apart, they meet again just after she sends her blind date packing.

Zhou Shixu stands in the deep night, looking down at her with a displeased expression.

By the time she realizes what's happening, she's pinned against the door. The man curls his index finger beneath her chin, then kisses her deeply and fiercely.

Li Nanxing can barely breathe.

He eases away by a fraction, gently bites her earlobe, and murmurs in a husky voice, "Caught you."

[Little Scene]

One day, the boy half-blocks her way in the classroom and taps his lips with his index finger. "Deskmate, give me an adult coming-of-age gift?"

Li Nanxing rises onto her tiptoes.

A passing student hears the Iceberg speak in a gentle voice and say something absolutely terrifying:

"Not so hard."

"It can't be Zhou. He just sounds like him..."

"There's no way it's him. Have you ever seen an iceberg in the tropics?"

The next day, Zhou Shixu shows up at the school gates with a split lip.

Classmates: ...Now we have.

----------IMPORTANT----------

The heroine has a troubled family background. Both leads are exclusive to each other, one-on-one.

Please add my completed novel, Southern Shadow, Northern Light, to your favorites.

Blurb:

Spoiled mixed-race beauty x 191 cm sports star

Male replacement takes the place of the white moonlight | White moonlight chases his love | Male lead is a virgin | Both leads' first and only

*

Gao Mochuan is a renowned GOAT in the Northern Division. He's 191 centimeters tall, broad-shouldered and long-legged, with striking features and a dazzling, confident presence. Countless girls are after him.

Everyone thinks he's capable of anything.

But in Ling Maidong's eyes, Gao Mochuan is just Chu Yunchen 2.0: he looks like him, and even plays the same position on the court.

Ling Maidong thinks: He'll do. I can have him make up for what I lost with Chu Yunchen.

After they start dating, the aloof, untouchable prodigy is exceptionally indulgent toward her. He plays around with her, pins her on his lap, and takes his time teaching her...

When Gao Mochuan tilts his head and kisses her, Ling Maidong raises a hand to cover his eyes.

Because that's the one thing about him that isn't like Chu Yunchen.

*

Later, Chu Yunchen regrets it and comes to Jincheng, waits outside her apartment, and begs her to get back together through tears.

Ling Maidong steps out of his arms and turns around. Gao Mochuan is leaning lazily against the doorway, watching her coldly.

He gives a soft scoff. "You were treating me like him?"

Ling Maidong lowers her eyes.

...She can't deny it.

That night, Gao Mochuan loses his temper for the first time.

Ling Maidong has never seen him like this. He's smiling, but his eyes are red, and he tears up every one of his number 11 jerseys with his own hands.

Gao Mochuan pins her against the wall. When she turns her head away, his gaze darkens.

"Why are you hiding? You can't use me as a stand-in for him now?"

[Little Scene]

Ling Maidong thought Gao Mochuan was a cool, self-possessed basketball star, too proud to compete for anyone...

Later, she realizes she was completely wrong.

In a dim room,

she is pressed in front of a full-length mirror. His long-fingered hand grips her waist, his movements carrying an athlete's distinctive intensity, even as his voice stays gentle.

"Who am I?"

She trembles as she says his name.

After making her confirm it over and over... he answers Chu Yunchen's relentless calls for her.

He bends down to kiss her tears and gently coaxes her:

"Come on, speak up."

"Let him hear what we're doing."

Theme: When absurdity rules, love saves us., Camus