[Fictional setting + the whole family dotes on her + childhood friends + ensemble cast]
In the capital, in Ya’er Alley, stands an old courtyard house.
When Jiang Linzhao was born, four boys gathered around her cradle: cool-headed top student Shen Yanche, sunny and warmhearted Lu Chengfeng, gentle young doctor Ye Jingling, and proud young master Gu Tianyi.
The oldest was seven, the youngest five.
From that day on, the four of them “claimed” her life.
She took her first steps toward Gu Tianyi, and her first word was “Yiyi.” Shen Yanche read poetry to her for twenty years, from Three Hundred Tang Poems to “Guan Ju” in the Book of Odes. Ye Jingling always carried a medicine pouch with something set aside for her. Through every storm, Lu Chengfeng was there, his “I’m here” constant for twenty years.
An anonymous letter brings long-buried secrets to light, and the four boys grow up overnight. They begin spending their lives making good on the promises they made as children.
One applies for a study-abroad exchange program for her. Another tells her, “Go fly. I’ll catch you from down here.” One quietly prepares a protective sachet for her. The last, all gruff words and soft feelings, says, “Come back soon. The tanghuoshao will get cold.”
This is the story of a girl from Beijing who grew up doted on by her four childhood friends.
It is a twenty-year wait that began at her full-moon celebration.
It is a confession never spoken aloud, yet proven over a lifetime:
“I love you.”
Who do you think she’ll choose in the end?
The answer is hidden in the sunset over the Drum and Bell Towers.
