When Zhou Ning was eight, he had an accident. Seeing him spend the entire summer vacation cooped up at home, his father took him to stay for a while at his grandfather’s house in the countryside. While his father and grandfather caught up, Zhou Ning sneaked outside. Everything in the countryside was new to him. Distracted by it all, he lost his footing and fell into the river behind the hill. The water was over two meters deep, and he couldn’t swim. Just as he thought he was going to die there, someone dragged him out and onto the bank. He still remembered how fiercely the sun blazed that day, and how the cicadas in the big riverside trees shrilled without pause. Sunlight streamed through the thick leaves and glittered on the water like gemstones. He was a miserable sight, coughing nonstop after swallowing several mouthfuls of water. In the chaos, he got a clear look at the person who had saved him: short, water-soaked hair, slightly dark skin, and a pair of startlingly bright eyes in a round face. Most surprising of all, his rescuer looked to be about his age. She was a girl. Before he could even thank her, she snapped, “You can’t swim, so why’d you jump in? Are you crazy?”
Then she walked away without looking back. He had dated someone in college, and after they broke up, he met Lin Jian through a matchmaking arrangement. She was gentle, but nothing like the girl in his memories. He never truly gave her his heart, either. So when Lin Jian asked for a divorce, he didn’t refuse. He never imagined that this seemingly quiet and gentle woman had another side he’d never seen, perhaps because he’d never really made an effort to know her. Nor did he ever imagine that the person who had shared his bed for three years was the very girl who had saved him when they were children. How could he not fall for her? How could he not regret it? Now it’s my turn to get to know you. Can sincerity still be repaid with sincerity?
