[BE Aesthetics | Failure of two-way redemption | Sober breakup | Pain of original family]
He said: "My love is a cage, your light is too hot."
She said: "Our separation is the best salvation for each other."
My name is Shen Tinglan, a top student in high school. Until I met Lu Zhi on the rooftop, a "madman" known throughout the school, with old scars all over his wrists.
Others walked around him, but I leaned forward. Because from his paintings, I heard the exact same scream as my own.
I helped him with tutoring and he painted for me. We thought this was salvation. Until his grades plummeted, until his mother fell ill and committed suicide to drag him back into the abyss, until I cried loudly in the psychological consultation room and admitted: I couldn't save him at all.
Three days before the college entrance examination, I asked him to go see the sea. At sunrise, I said those words: "Lu Zhi, let's separate. This is not giving up on you, but fulfilling us."
He said softly: "Okay. We're done here."
We saved each other and then let go before the abyss. That is not failure, it is the last tenderness given to each other in the long youth. Many years later, his painting exhibition shocked the whole city, with the theme "Walking on Land".
In the gallery, I saw the largest painting called "Ting Lan".
There was only one sentence written on the introductory card:
"To the gentlest light in my life."
I didn't go to him. Just write two words in the guestbook.
"Take care."
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We once kept each other warm in the abyss, but chose to let go before dawn.
That is not failure, it is the last tenderness we gave each other in our long youth.
