A pair of unrelated brothers and sisters spent ten years learning to say goodbye, and then spent the rest of their lives learning to meet again.
In the summer of the red brick building, Song Nianchi was always waiting - waiting for Qing Yan to come back for dinner, waiting for Aunt Zhou to fan the cattail leaf fan, waiting for Lin Yue to finish painting the never-ending blueprint.
She is the adopted daughter of the Song family. She didn't understand the weight of the word "chi" until she was sixteen: she was a latecomer, guarded by a silent brother for ten years, and trapped in a wandering with nowhere to go for half her life. The green eaves are her roof - she doesn't hold an umbrella, doesn't look back, doesn't say anything, but is always there.
Nian Chi came back ten years later. The red brick building had not been demolished, but the green eaves were still there. She sat in the courtyard eating watermelon, squatting on the steps to pick leeks, and pinched a green tile that had been ground out again and again. She finally knew: the deepest love in the world is not "I love you", but "it won't be too late when you come back."
The red brick building will not be demolished, but the green tiles will remain. Time gives the gentlest answer: all those who are late will eventually return.
