As Long as You’re Safe and Well, Even If We Never Meet Again

When leaves from the parasol trees carpeted the schoolyard, and she was seventeen, Mu Niansheng met Xu Zhian for the first time. He was a dazzling boy on the basketball court, sweat flying as he played. The wind lifted the corner of his white shirt, and sunlight fell on his upturned lips, as if the whole summer had been folded into his smile.

She was always secretly sketching him by the art room window: the arc of his jump shot, his profile, erased and redrawn, all concealing the feelings she had never dared to voice. Later, they became classmates. He borrowed her math notes, slipped her a note when she froze after being called on, and walked beside her along the long avenue of parasol trees after school, their shadows stretching far behind them.

But youth always holds unexpected goodbyes. An accident suddenly forced Xu Zhian to transfer schools, and he left without a word. Mu Niansheng locked away the sketchbook filled with drawings of him, believing time would wash everything away.

Years later, at a class reunion, she saw a familiar figure beyond the crowd. He had outgrown his boyish awkwardness, and his features had taken on a steadier air. His gaze paused briefly when it passed over her, but in the end, he looked away.

Some people use up all their luck when they meet. Once they part, all they can do is gaze at each other across a sea of people. Mu Niansheng gripped her coffee cup and quietly told herself, “Xu Zhian, as long as you’re safe and well year after year, I don’t mind if we never see each other again in this life.”