Summer Ripples

Mutual secret crush | Rising entertainment-star actress x capital-circle heir | Reunited after years apart

After graduating from university, Song Wanqiao took the stage as a trainee in a girl group.

She never expected that, on the eve of the finals, the show's biggest sponsor would come to check on preparations, and that she would spot Zhou Lingyi in the crowd.

The refined and handsome man was surrounded by admirers. The girls who knew they shouldn't fall for him nevertheless started trying everything they could to get his attention.

Song Wanqiao, however, hid away.

Who could have guessed that the aloof heartthrob so many girls had secretly adored in high school was actually a distinguished heir from Beijing's elite circles?

While she was working herself to the bone, waking up early and staying up late, clumsily learning to dance and falling until she was covered in bruises just to earn a two-thousand-yuan appearance fee, Zhou Lingyi could casually spend twenty million overnight.

They were worlds apart.

On the day of the finals, she missed her chance to debut by a single spot and hid backstage to cry.

A shadow suddenly fell over her. She looked up to see the handsome young man, surrounded by his entourage, standing before her and looking down at her. "Why are you hiding from me?"

Song Wanqiao sniffled, tears still clinging to her lashes. Her voice was hoarse. "You remember me?"

Zhou Lingyi crouched down and handed her an Alpenliebe candy. "Don't cry. Today's disappointment might not be a bad thing."

*

Several years earlier, in the height of summer, in a quiet coastal third-tier city.

Troubled by a family crisis, Zhou Lingyi sat in a corner of the school grounds, watching the scenery.

A bright-eyed girl quietly approached and offered him an Alpenliebe candy, awkwardly trying to comfort him.

"Don't be sad. You can try again at next year's math competition. This disappointment might not be a bad thing."

Zhou Lingyi froze, then realized she thought he was upset about failing to make the physics competition team.

He'd simply been in a bad mood that day and turned in a blank paper.

The sweet girl had no idea what was really troubling him, yet she pierced the gloom in his heart and let the bright sunlight spill in.

Theme: Those who are meant to be together will find their way to each other.