Cicadas in the Noisy Summer

The first time Xia Xingmian went to a bar, she met a boy in a dim little alley. He leaned against the wall, his eyelids pale and thin, his frame tall. His lips had a faint blush against his cool, pale skin.

His features looked strikingly fierce.

That night, he helped chase off a drunk.

*

Lu Ye comes from a good family and has a wild streak. Other people have to work up their courage for ages just to approach him and say a few words, but he can’t stop teasing Xia Xingmian.

He pinches her cheek, tugs on her sleeve, or pulls her right up to him.

When they walk together, he never walks in a straight line. Even when Xia Xingmian is pressed against the wall, he still drifts toward her. Every time, she reminds him, “Hey, why don’t you watch where you’re going?”

Lu Ye looks at her and smiles. His body instinctively chooses its own direction, teaching him what it means to be physically drawn to someone.

Lu Ye has been in plenty of fights. The young man has hard fists, and he’s had his share of black eyes and bruises. But when Xia Xingmian pinches his waist, he doesn’t even dare to tense up, afraid that if he flexes his muscles, she won’t be able to pinch him.

Even when she pinches him until he’s bruised, he still asks her, “Does your hand hurt?”

“...”

*

Xia Xingmian is gentle and mild-tempered, usually good-natured and polite. But she either doesn’t get into trouble at all, or she stirs up a storm.

One day, Lu Ye goes to her home and runs into her parents on their way upstairs. Then he catches Xia Xingmian kissing the one person she absolutely shouldn’t be kissing.

That night, Lu Ye corners her on a small road, a cigarette pinched between his fingertips. His face is deathly pale as he asks, “Do you even fucking know what you’re doing?”

“I touch you once and you make a big deal of it, but then you turn around and mess around with him.”

Even though he knows it’s fake, he can’t stand it. That night, Lu Ye makes Xia Xingmian say “I’m yours” over and over.

*

Just before college graduation, Lu Ye goes drinking with his roommates. Later, one of them tells him a stranger slipped something into his drink.

Lu Ye doesn’t think much of it at first, but when Xia Xingmian sits beside him, he starts feeling strange.

That night, he thinks he’s been drugged and ends up alone in a room with Xia Xingmian.

But later, the doctor tells him the test results are clear.

Lu Ye immediately says, “That can’t be right! My body reacted!”

The doctor glances at the woman beside him and says, “At your age, after drinking, a little psychological suggestion can have that effect.”

Lu Ye: “...”

Remembering what just happened, he doesn’t even dare look at her.

**

When Lu Ye’s father finds out that Lu Ye got married right after graduation, he flies into a rage and tells him to get divorced immediately. Lu Ye has only one thing to say:

“Divorce my ass. I’m never getting divorced, not in this lifetime.”

Lu Ye knows why his father wants him to divorce, but he doesn’t know why Xia Xingmian wants to leave. He makes her an offer: “I won’t use protection, and you’re not allowed to take pills. I’ll divorce you in a month.”

Later, they switch the order. After the divorce, Xia Xingmian stays with him for a month.

They spend two years apart, and Lu Ye changes a lot. He used to be brash and reckless, but two years later, he’s level-headed and decisive, a leading figure in the business world whom everyone wants to curry favor with.

At a class reunion after they meet again, Xia Xingmian drinks too much, and Lu Ye goes to take her, fast asleep, home. A female classmate stops him and says it’s late, and they’re a man and a woman.

Lu Ye takes a photo of their marriage certificate from his phone and shows it to them. “She’s my wife.”

His love is as steadfast as rock, unmoving through thorns and fire.

* Happy ending.

* Pure one-on-one romance. They’re both absolutely smitten with each other.

* Updates daily, reliable author.

A companion story to Cicadas in the Noisy Summer, titled Getting Married When We’re at Our Worst (the male lead is the older brother, Xia Shuqi):

Zhang Ningyan accompanies her “boyfriend” to visit his sick mother. In that hospital room, she meets her boyfriend’s older brother and calls him, “Brother.”

Later, alone in the hallway, Zhang Ningyan asks him, “It’s been a long time. Have you been doing well?”

Xia Shuqi walks toward her in silence until he has her pinned against the wall. He looks down at her and says, “Are you hoping to reminisce with me as my younger brother’s wife, Miss Zhang?”

Three months after she and Xia Shuqi break up, she receives a call from him late one night. At first, no one speaks after she answers. Zhang Ningyan thinks he must have called by mistake, then wonders if he’s drunk.

Then he suddenly asks her, “Will you marry me?”

Zhang Ningyan asks, “Do you know who you’re calling?”

Xia Shuqi: “I’m not drunk.”

This time, she’s the one who falls silent.

Zhang Ningyan debuts as an idol under the identity of Young Master Lu’s fiancée, but the public doesn’t know that the one who really married her is Young Master Lu’s older half-brother, Xia Shuqi. She also only finds out then that Xia Shuqi is the biggest investor in her agency.

Her group is widely regarded as promising, but other people pull strings behind the scenes to take the most important performance opportunities.

Zhang Ningyan can’t stand it, so she decides to work the system, too. She goes to ask Xia Shuqi for help.

That night, in the bedroom, Zhang Ningyan looks at Xia Shuqi nervously and asks, “What... will it take for you to help me?”

Xia Shuqi walks toward her and says, “Since you’re so sincere, Miss Zhang, I think I’ll make you suffer a little.”

Zhang Ningyan’s heart sinks halfway. She immediately reminds him, “We’re legally married. I still have to be your proper wife in the future.”

Xia Shuqi slowly takes off his tie. “Mm. Come here.”

Female lead: born to be a star

Male lead: an ascetic CEO

Xia Shuqi: “You are my most passionate freedom, and I am your most devoted audience.”

Theme: The backdrop of everyday life is naturally bright and magnificent.