The sea breeze of Langang carried its salty tang through the city for eighteen years, chilling Lu Ye to the bone.
He was a boy left to rot in the mud. His stepfather was a compulsive gambler, his family had nothing, and he was always covered in the smell of engine oil and simmering with rage. He thought he was destined to spend his life gripping a wrench in a repair shop, crashing headfirst into trouble in dark alleys.
That was until Wen Xu walked into his world.
The top student in their grade, always in a clean uniform and fine-rimmed glasses, with a gentle look in his eyes, was like warm sunshine after a snowfall, cleaving straight through Lu Ye’s all-consuming gloom.
He taught him math, weaving obscure formulas into the tricks of repairing cars. He went with him to parent-teacher meetings, giving him someone to stand up for him for the first time. He helped him deal with the messes in his life and said, “Your problems are my problems.”
From sitting side by side in the back row of the classroom to studying together at the little table in the repair shop, from embracing in the evening breeze on the sports field to facing every storm together at the mouth of the alley, two lonely boys found redemption and warmth in each other, amid Langang’s old lanes and seaside.
[Abrasive, cold-on-the-outside, warm-on-the-inside mechanic × gentle, steadfast, refined top student and class monitor]
“Lu Ye, don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
“Wen Xu, I’ll protect you for the rest of my life.”
The evening breeze of Langang will eventually blow winter away, and you are my spring stretching across the mountains and plains.
