Tales in Navy Blue

A navy-blue qipao, handed down through the generations, its color like the sea at midnight, quietly holding endless memories and secrets. Su Ling brings over a newly made navy-blue qipao and invites him to be its first “reader.” Pointing to the pattern along the hem, she says, “This is the ‘frost-cracked plum’ pattern. Plum blossoms grow from cracks in the ice. My father said that’s probably what fate has in store for our generation.” Shen Xubai runs his fingers over the pattern. “Then I’ll be the soil beneath those plum blossoms, the roots growing through the cracks.” In return, he gives her a specially made “scale”: a hollow brass ruler with markings and a compartment at one end for a miniature roll of film. Its measurements are based on the date they met. These words of love and the keepsake will become a code and a heartache that follow them for a lifetime.