Honestly I picked up this novel because it looked short and I enjoy stories in a school setting, but it was super sweet. Both Gu Qinan and Zhan Ming really grew on me, especially GQN once you see him start to come out of his shell and revert back to his regular personality.
Gu Qinan transfers from an elite high school to the very regular No. 7 high school to escape some pretty severe bullying. At the new school, he sits in the only open desk next to the 1.9 m school delinquent, Zhan Ming, and slowly becomes part of their gang as brother #3. Initially he's very closed off and doesn't talk to anyone, but slowly he starts opening at least to ZM & co and eventually his bubbly personality returns.
**Warning: Spoilers Ahead**
After GQN's transfer, he still runs into problems with bullies, as there's a really idiotic class bully called Wang Yue who makes trouble for him sometimes, as well as his former classmates who come all the way to the new school to continue bullying him, but luckily ZM is there now to help take care of things. No wonder GQN from the start is so enamored with ZM... he's like his knight in shining armor who always shows up at the right time to protect GQN.
The relationship doesn't just go one way though. ZM protects GQN from bullying, but as a math prodigy and a study god, GQN also inspires the whole gang to start caring about their grades and studying harder, especially as they enter their last year of high school and the college exam looms over everyone's heads. Reading about GQN happily doing homework and practice problems in his free time and getting really excited about it is somehow super cute. And then he starts dragging ZM into it too, like doing studying together at the McDonald's! That definitely made me smile.
When we finally get the back story of why GQN was bullied at his old school after the appearance of my least favorite character, Lin Shida, I was so mad. How can someone be so cruel and spread so many malicious lies about about the person they like and then come up to them later and lightly apologize and still expect to be forgiven (and maybe he was still hoping together with GQN as well)?? This was the most hypocritical behavior:
“I think he’s awful.”
“I have transferred schools already, but the first thing he told me when he found me was that he didn’t expect things to become so serious. It wasn’t what he wanted.”
“Because he was afraid that others would doubt him, he made up a lot of lies. In the experimental class, he told others that he hated me.”
“But when he came looking for me privately, he said that he still likes me and hoped that I would forgive him.”
Lin Shida deserved every bit of what GQN served him; revenge never felt so sweet. I was cheering at how smart GQN was to carry around two hidden voice recorders at any point just to catch LSD in the act, and he whipped it out at the perfect time in front of his parents and the No. 1 high school principal to expose him for his true self. Once ZM found out about the situation, he was super sweet to escort GQN to his cram school every weekend so that he can protect him from LDA.
And then there's Zhan Ming. His family situation is really sad (I can't believe his family makes him sleep on the balcony or something because there's no space??), so no wonder he started getting into fights and skipping school. He starts opening up to GQN the night they go camping, when they tell each other a little about their respective personal situations, and as GQN learns more, it brings out his caring side. He has such a sweet reaction:
“And I can only accept it, because they are my only remaining family members.” Zhan Ming said, looking at the gradually lit streetlight. “I have to go back.”
Because there was nowhere else to go.
Zhan Ming left, his back turned towards Gu Qinan. He waved his hand, seeming like the tall and cool Zhan-ge.
But Gu Qinan had an impulse—he wanted to roll Zhan-ge until he became small, put him in his backpack, and take him away. He wanted to bring him back home, give him a warm light, a soft bed, and a happy home.
After GQN realizes his feelings, I was surprised by how quickly and straightforwardly he confesses to ZM. I thought he'd be a little bit more shy but he was bursting to the seams with excitement first to confess and then to chase ZM; it was actually really cute. Too bad ZM (understandably) has a bit of an inferiority complex and doesn't think he's a good match for GQN at all. The entire time he was in doubt, I was thinking, "Noooooo don't sell yourself short Zhan Ming!"
Gu Qinan was suitable for better people, and Zhan Ming knew that. Zhan Ming also knew that there were many outstanding people who liked Gu Qinan.
Regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl, he won’t ever get a chance.
Probably because he was the first person Gu Qinan met after transferring, and he was the first person to lend a helping hand after he was bullied for more than half a year, so Gu Qinan admired him very much—this, he also knew. But how long can this kind of adoration that came from admiration last?
After all, he had nothing. Besides fighting, he doesn’t know how to do anything.
But finally GQN wore him down and he could no longer fight against both GQN's feelings and his own:
Zhan Ming was also a little dizzy.
He restrained for a long time, and endured for a long time, but failed in the end.
Because there was a person who liked him so much, it felt really good. Since grandma passed away, this was the first time he felt that there was someone who could put him at ease and calm him down.
He restrained for a long time, scared that he was too frightening. He was afraid that he would treat Gu Qinan’s love as a driftwood when he was drowning—holding on to it without letting go; frightening Gu Qinan.
But now he couldn’t hold back anymore. He could only hold on to his precious tightly and never let him go again.
So yeah. GQN and ZM are the sweetest couple!! But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention brothers #1 and #2 in their little group as well. I thought both Wu Yuan and Lin Xiaobin were pretty fleshed out as side characters. I was rooting for WY to get his crush, especially when it seemed like it might've been reciprocal, and LXB is the most clueless guy ever. It was actually pretty hilarious to read one of the side stories at the end where WY straight up tells him that GQN and ZM are together and LXB doesn't believe him XP
I will end my review with one of GQN's lines that made me chuckle. He's standing up to Wang Yue, the class bully, on ZM's behalf and comes up with a very GQN line:
“You like Qiu Ranying, yet you don’t dare to admit it? On what basis does a trash like you have to chase Qiu Ranying?”
Gu Qinan rushed in front of Zhan Ming and yelled: “You are the one that’s trash, and it’s the non-recyclable harmful trash!”