Older woman and younger man × mutual healing × from Shenzhen to Sydney
Sensitive, insecure rich-kid younger brother × carefree, confident heroine
Australia has a unique plant called the grass tree.
It grows only 1–2 centimeters a year. Its trunk isn’t made of real wood, but of countless layers of old leaves. It takes at least ten years to form.
That’s what the relationship between Lin Qiangchao and Jiang Mei is like.
The grass tree isn’t incapable of flowering. It’s waiting for a fire.
2007, Shenzhen.
After his mother remarries, fifteen-year-old Lin Qiangchao gains a stepsister, Jiang Mei, who is five years older than him.
They aren’t related by blood and aren’t listed in the same household register.
When they first meet, she hands him a hat and says, “This is for you. A little something to welcome you.”
He never wears it.
But the hat stays with him for eight years, from Shenzhen to Sydney, hidden at the very bottom of his wardrobe where no one can find it.
2010, Sydney.
His stepfather entrusts Lin Qiangchao, who has gone to Australia for a foundation program, to the care of his “sister.”
They spend four years together, day in and day out.
She teaches him how to choose courses, find a place to rent, and get by in a foreign country.
She is independent, confident, and at ease with everything. He is sensitive and insecure, yet insists on pretending he doesn’t care.
He falls in love, then breaks up.
She has plenty of options, but stays in Sydney.
Then one unexpected night changes everything.
2014, Sydney.
“Let’s pretend last night never happened.”
Lin Qiangchao realizes one thing: he doesn’t want to be her younger brother anymore.
But she refuses to turn back.
“I’m your sister.”
“Not by blood.”
“You’re still young. You’re just attached to me.”
So what if she’s his sister?
The grass tree is putting out shoots.
