Those Were the Best Years

Love rises with the wind; when the wind dies down, the ache remains. Regret will always be regret.

First love × reunion after years apart × rekindled romance × a story that ends in regret × the beauty of a bittersweet ending

One is an ordinary girl, carefree and content, with no grand ambitions. The other is a brilliant rock-loving academic with lofty ideals. They meet in the best years of their lives and blaze through each other’s youth, giving one another the purest love. Their first love withstands the clash between reality and ideals, and they face life’s cruelties together. But the pride and stubbornness of youth bring it to an end in tears and regret. Five years after graduation, they meet again. She has weathered the ups and downs of the workplace; he has returned from overseas and risen to the top of his field. An unexpected turn of events binds them together. They face life-and-death trials and find warmth in each other amid despair. Will the lover they thought they had lost help them break through every obstacle and make up for the regrets of the past? Or will those regrets become eternal, haunting them for the rest of their lives?

Their story is more than just their own; it reflects an entire generation. From 2010 to 2023, a group of post-90s college students like Lu Ting and Zhou Yizhi pass through their youth together in the best years of their lives, moving from the ivory tower into society. They share a passionate youth, then choose different paths at the crossroads of graduation, leading them into different lives. A gentle breeze of change stirs the times, but those touched by it are in for an earthquake in their lives. Amid the tide of the times, some surge forward while others drift with the current. They wave goodbye to a youth growing ever more distant, and greet the tomorrow that still lies ahead.