From the righteous figure who stood up for her, to the radiant smile they shared while promising to chase their dreams together, to the earnest look on his face as he reached out to snatch away her cigarette, countless fragments pieced together the image that Xu Xu would remain obsessed with for a lifetime.
He had once fought rumors for her, endured separation for her, and crossed thousands of miles to return to her. Throughout the long years, he struggled alone in the south, using kind lies to force her toward a stable life. She waited, wavered, and compromised where she was, ultimately moved by the tenderness of the person beside her and deciding to spend the rest of her life with him.
He returned just in time for her wedding. Watching her dressed in bridal robes, he finally let go of all the resentment he had carried since his youth. On the train heading south once more, he found peace at last: there was no need to dwell on where their fate began, and no need to regret how it ended.
As long as she still remembered that blazing youth, still remembered that there had once been a version of him who gave everything without hesitation, he would forever be the one and only protagonist in the story of her youth.
