There Is No Rain in the Sky at Seventeen

From the summer of their senior year of high school to the spring of their doctoral graduation, Lin Xiaoxiao and Chen Shu spent six years growing from awkward teenagers into accomplished PhDs who could stand on their own. Their youthful romance, too, grew into a steadfast love they could share for a lifetime.

Their story began in summer, amid the cicadas’ cries, with a physics problem on the blackboard and a borrowed pen. And it ended in spring, with magnolias in bloom, doctoral degrees, steaming hotpot, and the promise, “We’ll never be apart again.”

It’s a story about youth, dreams, love, and growing up. About meeting the right person at the best time in your life, then working hard together, becoming better together, weathering confusion and separation together, and finally shining in your own fields while taking deep root in each other’s lives.