Broken Porcelain Chronicles

In the late spring of the twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China, in the old house of the Su family deep in the rain alley in the south of the Yangtze River, a sudden dispute knocked over the heirloom blue and white vase with lotus pattern. The moment the pieces of porcelain were scattered, sixteen-year-old Su Minghui saw her grandmother Su Zhao's face suddenly turn pale - half of a piece of yellowed paper was embedded among the pieces. The ink had blurred over the years, and the words "Guangxu 23rd Year", "Ferry" and "Waiting" were vaguely visible. This porcelain vase, regarded as a treasure by the Su family, was originally a dowry from my great-grandmother. According to sporadic mentions by the elderly in the family, when my great-grandmother married into the Su family, she brought a whole lot of dowry with her, but she especially cherished this porcelain vase. Before she died, she clutched the vase and murmured to herself, "I can't wait any longer, so I might as well break it." But no one knew who she was waiting for and why she hid her secret in the hard porcelain body. This novel and its characters are purely fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental and should not be imitated.