My Childhood Sweetheart on the Ice, Please Guide Me

For twenty years, he cherished the little butterfly he’d met at eight until she became his whole world.

My name is Wang Jingqiu, and my nickname is Qiuqiu.

My dad is the singer Wang Zhengliang. He gave me this name because he hoped my life would be as exciting as scoring a goal.

I fell in love with figure skating at four, and at eight I won two championships at the Hong Kong championships. On the podium, a handsome boy came over, blushing slightly. “Miss, you skate so well, like a little butterfly.”

His name was Gu Fengqiu. He was nine and could land a triple Axel. I only learned later that he remembered that first glance for ten years.

During our training camp in Russia, he used his clumsy Russian to order food for me, though he often got it wrong. When I hurt my knee, he carried me straight to the infirmary. When puberty affected my form and my performance slumped, he came every Sunday to practice with me. When I fell while trying a quadruple Axel and lay on the ice without wanting to move, he lay down beside me. “I’ll lie here with you. When you’ve had enough, we’ll get up together.”

At eighteen, we competed in the Winter Olympics. I won gold in the women’s singles, and he won gold in the men’s singles.

After the medal ceremony, he knelt before the whole world. “When you were eight, I wanted to hide you away at home. But I chose to help you fly out into the world.” Later, we got married in an ice rink. Later, we had a son named Niannian. He taught our child, “Be good to your mom. It hurt a lot when she gave birth to you.” Later, we established a foundation in Niannian’s name to help more children pursue their dreams. Later, he told me, “From the time you were eight until now, you’ve always been the little butterfly in my eyes.”

We met at eight, confessed our love at eighteen, and became a family of three at twenty-eight.

He spent his youth protecting a little sun named “Goal.” Over three Olympic Games, she returned all his devotion.

Childhood sweethearts on the ice, I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you.