His Colors Are on Mute

Xu Qinghuan has a secret: she can see emotions as colors. This gift is a curse she cannot turn off, until she meets Shen Mo. By his side, the noisy world falls silent for the first time. Others mock Shen Mo as a silent deaf man, but Xu Qinghuan craves the peace he brings and becomes a regular at his pottery studio. He teaches her, “You don’t need to hear the language of clay. You need to feel it with your heart.” When her unusual ability spirals out of control after an accident and she breaks down in a flood of colors, he cannot comfort her with words. Instead, he holds her tightly and presses her hand against his chest. Between the drumbeat of his heart and the veins in the clay, she finally learns to make peace with her ability. [Bonus Scene] Later, a solo exhibition by rising artist Xu Qinghuan opens. A reporter presses her about her relationship with the famous potter. She looks toward the man sitting quietly below the stage and smiles. “He is the only color beneath everything in my world.” Shen Mo reads the captions on his phone, raises his head, and signs to her. Their friend who knows sign language instantly blushes: it means, “My silence will always be silent for you.”