一个夏天的约定

Today let's talk about a hit youth romance drama, "Never-Ending Summer."

The story unfolds in a scorching summer.

First, the female lead: her name is Zhou Wan, a top student.

Her grades are excellent and she's sharp.

It seems like nothing can stump her.

But her family isn't well-off.

And her grandmother has fallen seriously ill.

The medicine is expensive, and insurance won't cover it.

It costs 3,000 yuan a month.

For a high schooler, that's a huge sum.

But Zhou Wan didn't cry, nor did she ask anyone for help.

She wanted to earn the money herself.

At school, she secretly sells the study notes she compiles.

She lays out every exam point clearly.

Classmates scramble to buy them.

Classes by day, compiling notes by night.

She has almost no time to rest.

She says nothing, carrying it all on her own.

Now the male lead: his name is Lu Xixiao.

He's a completely different kind of person from Zhou Wan.

His family is rich, but he doesn't like studying.

His first appearance is a scene at the morning assembly.

To dodge an inspection, he tore around the school.

And ended up kicking over a fire hydrant.

Water gushed out at once.

In the sun, the spray became a rainbow.

The whole school was stunned.

The sight was both a mess and beautiful.

The teacher scolded him from the stage.

Far from scared, he grabbed the microphone.

He apologized in front of the whole school.

You can tell at a glance: this guy loves the spotlight.

The furious teacher confiscated his bike keys.

The teacher said: rank in the national top 1,000, and you'll get them back.

Everyone assumed it was just an angry remark.

But to reclaim the keys, he actually started studying hard.

He then sought out Zhou Wan, who sold the study notes.

He learned she was secretly selling them.

And used that secret to threaten her.

With no choice, Zhou Wan handed the notes over.

To everyone's surprise, he really aced the exam with them.

So far, they're nothing more than a transaction.

But this summer isn't so simple.

In episode two, things shift.

A lie of Zhou Wan's is exposed to her face.

She loses her tutoring job.

Just when she's most desperate for money, she spots someone.

It's her mother.

This mother abandoned her when she was very young.

Now the mother has changed her name to Guo Xiangling.

What hurts more: her mother is fawning over Lu Xixiao.

Only then does Zhou Wan realize her mother has long eyed the Lu family's wealth.

In that instant, years of buried hatred surge up.

She decides to take revenge.

She sneaks into the teachers' office and digs up the Lu family's background.

Then, under the big tree, she deliberately stops Lu Xixiao.

She says: I hear you're going abroad — I can teach you English.

What she wants is her grandmother's life-saving money.

What she hides is her hatred for her mother.

Lu Xixiao refuses at first.

Why should he listen to some stranger of a girl?

Then they play a round of a game, and he loses.

A loss is a loss, so he agrees to be her student.

From then on, after evening study hall, they learn English together.

They hold lessons beside an abandoned swimming pool.

The summer nights are muggy, cicadas droning on.

The two work through problems by a single lamp.

Lu Xixiao grew up with no one looking after him.

His parents barely care about him.

At first he doesn't believe anyone truly cares about him.

But Zhou Wan, of all people, looks after him.

She keeps her eye on him, teaching problem by problem, allowing no slacking.

She even brings a little fan from home and sets it beside him.

Just that small bit of care.

It slowly gives this study-averse boy some self-respect.

And he starts to take things seriously.

The summer grows hotter, their lessons coming one after another.

Zhou Wan came in carrying hatred.

What she wanted was the Lu family's money.

But once she actually sat down, she saw a different Lu Xixiao.

A boy no one had ever truly cared for.

When he gets a problem wrong, he steals a glance at her expression.

When she praises him, he pretends not to care.

The hatred in Zhou Wan's heart loosens a little.

Lu Xixiao is changing too.

He starts looking forward to the end of study hall.

Looking forward to that lamp by the pool lighting up.

He won't admit it, but it's the most at-ease part of his day.

With her looking after him, he feels, for the first time, that someone cares.

Neither of them says it outright.

They just call it tutoring.

The fan whirs, the problems get done, and the summer nights pass one by one.

She teaches him for her grandmother's medicine money.

He studies because he lost a game.

When it comes down to it, it's just a transaction.

But this summer is too hot.

So hot you can't tell calculation from genuine feeling.

That night, he discovers something.

He always loved the goldfish in plastic bags he'd see by the roadside.

But he could never bring himself to buy one.

This time, Zhou Wan quietly buys that bag of goldfish and sets it before him.

The bag has sprung a leak.

Water drips down her schoolbag, drop by drop.

Neither of them speaks.

But something is already different.

This is how "Never-Ending Summer" begins.

A girl working desperately to earn money for her grandmother.

A boy overlooked by everyone.

They meet in the hottest of summers.

One with sincerity, one with calculation.

It was supposed to be just a transaction.

But within the deal, something else seems to have taken root.

The summer is still long.

And their story has only just begun.