Beneath the Pagoda Tree on Liu'an Lane

There is a kind of closeness measured in millimeters.

Shitian, a restorer of ancient books, is a “quiet sort of person,” used to going unnoticed. Lin Chaoyang, a fire prevention officer, is the kind of person people remember in a crowd.

Years later, they meet again. An old poster, a brass page-turner, and an old street called Liu'an Lane bring them slowly closer.

There are no grand declarations of love, only windows repaired time and again, a box of spring rolls on New Year's Eve, and the unchanging temperature difference around a well at 6:10 each morning.

If you believe some feelings don't need to be spoken aloud, you might enjoy this story.

Shitian restores ancient books, while Lin Chaoyang investigates fire hazards in the old city's lanes. Their work seems to have nothing in common, yet on an old street called Liu'an Lane, a page-turner, a well, and a tree slowly bring their paths together.

This is a story about “being seen”: being seen by someone, remembered by an era, and witnessed by a well and an old locust tree.