### **Mint and Soda: A Youthful School Romance About Saving Each Other**
**"You were the variable outside my plan, yet became the one certainty in my life."**
Jiang Che is the school's celebrated genius, laid-back and unruly, yet always at the top of his grade. He's used to keeping to himself, until transfer student Ji Yuan'an arrives: a boy who quietly works through problems, as if even his breathing were calculated, and trails him by just three points.
Ji Yuan'an's world is made up of a precise schedule, perfect scores, and his parents' expectations. Then Jiang Che bursts into his life with the sweet taste of orange soda, slipping game walkthroughs into his textbooks, tilting his umbrella over him on rainy days, and filling his life with unexpected surprises.
**"I can solve competition problems on my own, but I can't calculate the answer to how warm you make me feel."**
When Jiang Che discovers the scars on Ji Yuan'an's arm, when Ji Yuan'an answers Jiang Che's call in the dead of night, and when two proud hearts keep drawing closer in the rankings, the library, and the rain...
**This equation of youth, competition, and redemption finally finds its solution.**
### **Highlights**
1. **An intense push and pull between top students**
- The top student in the grade VS a genius transfer student: rivals at competitions, co-conspirators in the library
- Fated showdowns of "I'll beat you next time" and "I'll be waiting"
2. **A quietly unfolding story of salvation**
- The family trauma hidden beneath Ji Yuan'an's perfect facade
- Jiang Che's tender protectiveness beneath his carefree disguise
3. **All the details of youth**
- Sharing a tilted umbrella
- The mingled flavors of mint candy and orange soda
- Doodles in the corners of textbooks and an unfinished love letter
**"Between us, three points separate our rankings, and one step separates us from youth."**
(Tags: School life, mutual salvation, top students doting on each other, slow-burn romance)
Theme: Errors in cognition, a philosophical proposition
It's so beautiful. I like it. The author will update it soon. I love reading it.
Come on, work hard, the writing is very good, the author updates it ten times a day [Sunglasses]
Wow, both of them are so capable and got such high scores in the exam.