Falling in Love One Summer cover

Falling in Love One Summer

Rating 3.2
Word count
153K words
Chapters
50
ISBN
9787543873544

Tags

Summary

The aloof and proud Zhong Ling returns from England to Shanghai to build her career as a marketing director. Newly broken-hearted, she faces layer upon layer of workplace conflict and tests, while her father-daughter relationship, damaged by a mistress, hangs by a thread—life is a series of setbacks.

Then her subordinate supervisor Xia Yang, a man as warm and radiant as midsummer, bursts into her life.

Her coldness and desolation gradually melt in his love, and beneath the hard shell lies a tender, girlish side.

Even as she fusses and demurs, her heart still rejoices that he walks this road with her.

Editor's review

Ye Zi's novel begins with Zhong Ling returning from Britain to Shanghai to take up a marketing director position, layering heartbreak, workplace conflict, and father-daughter estrangement onto one character: her family relationship, damaged by a mistress, is on thin ice, her career faces repeated tests, and beneath her aloof, cold exterior lies real vulnerability. Her subordinate supervisor Xia Yang enters her life like midsummer, and his warm, direct affection gradually melts her coldness, revealing a coy yet delighted girlish side. The book's readability lies in its parallel tracks—the workplace line supplies realistic pressure while the romance line provides healing and warmth—and the protagonist's shift from guardedness to openness is rendered with细腻 sensitivity. It suits segmented reading on commutes or before sleep, following Zhong Ling as she sheds her hard shell step by step and experiences the light sweetness of being understood and favored.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who enjoy urban workplace romance, especially women
  • Readers who prefer healing stories in which a warm male lead gradually wins over a cold, aloof heroine
  • Readers interested in emotional themes such as loving again after heartbreak and estrangement from one's family of origin
  • Commuters seeking light, sweet, and warm stories to relax

Not a good fit for

  • Readers who prefer strong suspense, fast pacing, or grand narratives
  • Readers uninterested in the urban romance formula of interwoven workplace and love plots
  • Readers expecting serious social critique or deep sociological analysis

Reading tips

  1. Look at Zhong Ling's workplace conflicts and father-daughter relationship separately, then note how Xia Yang enters both threads.
  2. Pay attention to the subtle changes as Zhong Ling moves from cold guardedness to coy delight, and appreciate the character arc.
  3. Best read in segments on commutes or before sleep, following one small conflict or one step in the relationship each time.
  4. Slow down at tense moments in the father-daughter relationship and watch for groundwork for later reconciliation.

About the publisher

Hunan People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

Hunan People's Publishing House is a publisher known for its strengths in the humanities and social sciences and in translated classic works. Its catalog covers biography, Eastern philosophy, philosophical reading, social fiction, classics, and essays, with a particular focus on introducing major foreign works of thought and literary classics. Representative titles include Stefan Zweig's Decisive Moments in History and The Struggle with the Daemon: Hölderlin, Kleist, Nietzsche, Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness, and Seneca's On the Shortness of Life, alongside multiple volumes of selected fiction by Shen Congwen. Among the translators and authors represented are Liang Xijiang, Yuan Xiaoyi, Yi Siting, Pan Lu, and Ren Guoqiang. Beyond the 142 titles in this catalog, public information is limited, so no further publishing details are given here.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 第1章 我这不是出租车
  3. 第2章 你真自私
  4. 第3章 不会逃避
  5. 第4章 我会读心术
  6. 第5章 法老的女人
  7. 第6章 不好惹
  8. 第7章 热情的邻居
  9. 第8章 她是我继母
  10. 第9章 信不信由你
  11. 第10章 外星人
  12. 第11章 关心则乱
  13. 第12章 笑话真冷
  14. 第13章 有一种别样的风采
  15. 第14章 “险恶”用心
  16. 第15章 很有品味
  17. 第16章 百合就百合
  18. 第17章 难得的幽默感
  19. 第18章 八卦的损友
  20. 第19章 往事1
  21. 第20章 往事2
  22. 第21章 唇枪舌剑
  23. 第22章 被快乐感染
  24. 第23章 微妙气氛
  25. 第24章 臭豆腐炖猪脚
  26. 第25章 打情骂俏
  27. 第26章 来做钟点工
  28. 第27章 男色诱惑
  29. 第28章 死皮赖脸
  30. 第29章 两情相悦
  31. 第30章 不需要朋友
  32. 第31章 那就这样吧
  33. 第32章 奖品太敷衍
  34. 第33章 谋杀亲夫
  35. 第34章 吃醋
  36. 第35章 最毒妇人心啊
  37. 第36章 追求者
  38. 第37章 激将法
  39. 第38章 制造事端
  40. 第39章 嫁给我
  41. 第40章 挑拨
  42. 第41章 分手
  43. 第42章 他早就是毒药
  44. 第43章 牙尖嘴利
  45. 第44章 感觉好极了
  46. 第45章 我是你的人了
  47. 第46章 请你一定要比我幸福
  48. 第47章 我想葬在你家祖坟里
  49. 番外1 结婚记
  50. 番外2 起名记

FAQ

What kind of personality does the heroine Zhong Ling have?
She is aloof and proud, returning from Britain to Shanghai as a marketing director; she faces heartbreak alongside workplace conflicts and a broken father-daughter relationship, with disappointments everywhere. Hard on the outside but vulnerable within, she has a girlish side—coy in speech but joyful at heart—and her transformation is one of the book's highlights.
What is the relationship between the male lead Xia Yang and Zhong Ling?
Xia Yang is Zhong Ling's subordinate supervisor, warm and bright like midsummer. He enters her life proactively, and his direct affection gradually melts her coldness; the two move from workplace superior and subordinate to emotional reliance on each other, and the progression of their relationship is the story's main line.
How much of the book is workplace versus romance?
The two lines advance together. After returning to Shanghai as marketing director, Zhong Ling faces layer upon layer of workplace conflict and tests while her romance with Xia Yang gradually heats up; workplace pressure provides the backdrop for emotional change, and the romance carries the healing and sweet warmth—read the two lines in parallel.
Is the father-daughter relationship thread worth paying attention to?
Yes. Zhong Ling's father-daughter relationship is on thin ice because of a mistress's intrusion, and it is an important cause of her cold exterior. This thread gives the romance not only sweetness but also a process of repairing estrangement from the family of origin; watch for how it echoes Zhong Ling's acceptance of Xia Yang.

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About the author

Ye Zi Author · Chinese · 1910–1939

Ye Zi (1910–1939), originally named Yu Zhaoming and Yu Helin, was a native of Yiyang, Hunan, and a modern Chinese writer as well as a member of the League of Left-Wing Writers. In 1933 he published the short story "Harvest" under the pen name Ye Zi; with a preface by Lu Xun recommending it, the work brought him literary fame. His other representative works include "Star," "A Night in a Mountain Village," and "Fire." His writing often draws on the peasant movements and hardships of his home region, with a solid, grounded style and a clear social concern and sense of the times. The library holds 37 of his works, which, besides original fiction such as "Harvest," also involve translations of foreign literature and miscellaneous prose. Public information on the details of his life is limited, so they are not elaborated here.

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