The Ginkgo Never Spoke

The year 2000.

Six-year-old Zhuo Zhao gazed at her reflection in the mirror: pretty, wealthy, and doted on, just like a character in a TV drama. She was absolutely certain she was the villainess of this world.

Then she met Jiang Tuochi.

He called himself the "first-grade schoolyard king" and picked a fight with her just days after school started. She wasn't intimidated in the least, and bit him until he cried. They went from sworn enemies drawing a line down the middle of their desk to allies riding home together on the same bicycle. He said, "Zhuo Zhao, throughout our three years of middle school, as long as you're at school, I'll walk home with you."

She thought youth was a straight track, with everyone running side by side toward a finish line called "the future."

Then, in their final year of middle school, everything suddenly went off course.

Jiang Tuochi began keeping his distance without warning, gave her the cold shoulder, and eventually took transfer student Lin Su by the hand and said resolutely, "I'm not walking with you anymore." Then he gave up on a top high school and chose a completely different path in life.

Nine years later, their class reunion came to an end.

Li Xiao, who used to follow them around, rolled down his car window and said, "You didn't know? His parents died in a car accident that winter break. His grandmother had terminal cancer, and he took her around for treatment... Saying he was going to vocational school was just an excuse because he didn't want to hold anyone back."

Meanwhile, Ning Kang, the boy who had always quietly stayed by her side, was diagnosed with ALS. He had handed her tissues whenever she found herself in a mess, but now he was gradually losing the ability to even hold chopsticks.

The ginkgo leaves turned yellow, then green again.

The girl who once thought she was the "villainess" had finally taken center stage in her life. Only when she looked back did she realize