Introduction to the work
When he woke up from the smell of disinfectant, Lu Yu stared at the ceiling of the pure white ward, his memory blank - who was he? Why here? The only remaining yellowed photo in the pocket became the only anchor point: the girl in the white dress standing under the sycamore tree and laughing, and the writing on the back was stained with tears: "Find her, the truth is in her eyes."
He grabbed the photos and entered the urban maze: rusty road signs in the old city, "Su Nian who always squats in the corner and draws his back" as the owner of the second-hand bookstore said, blue houses covered with bougainvillea in the seaside city, piecing together fragments of the past. Until the unfinished painting in the studio came into view - the back of a man wearing a gray scarf under the sycamore tree. The knot of the scarf was exactly the same as the way he tied it at the moment.
The diary on the desk reveals the mystery: he is Lu Yu, the financial director who embezzled public funds. Su Nian in the photo is his assistant, the youth hidden in the sketchbook, and his lover who was imprisoned for his crime. The text message next to the verdict was warm: "I didn't betray you. Surrender yourself. I'll wait for you."
The autumn wind rolled down the sycamore leaves, and Lu Yu finally understood the light in Su Nian's eyes - it was the return journey paved with freedom, leading him from the confusion of amnesia to the redemption of facing his crime.
