[Nurturing] [Love grows over time] [Mutual devotion] [The seven-year itch] [The pain of ten years] [Rebirth]
[Gentle lawyer x narcotics police officer]
Their meeting in Haicheng was destined to be an all-consuming romance.
Zhuang Meng, who dropped out of high school in her senior year, met Zhou Sheng, who lived in darkness.
Though they were strangers, they gave each other warmth.
They became family to each other.
But a sudden explosion kept them apart for seven years.
Ten years later, Zhuang Meng still remembered how heavily the snow fell that day.
The thick snow covered Zhou Sheng like a blanket, except it was cold.
Even his breath was cold. "Mengmeng! I'm so tired. I want to sleep for a little while, just a little while. Is that okay?" Zhou Sheng's words were ice-cold, their chill piercing Zhuang Meng to the bone.
Zhuang Meng held him in her arms, as if embracing a block of ice, trying with all her might to melt it. "All right, go to sleep!" She desperately stifled her sobs.
Time passed like flowing water. Ten years had gone by.
Zhou Sheng was buried in a cemetery in the northern suburbs of Xiamen.
His name and dates of birth and death were carved on the tombstone, along with a line in smaller characters: "My beloved, Zhou Sheng." Zhuang Meng stood before the stone. The snow had stopped, and a ray of golden sunlight slipped through the clouds and fell on the tombstone, making the character Sheng shine.
She crouched down and placed a bunch of white chrysanthemums before the grave. Snowmelt clung to the flowers, chilling her knuckles until they turned white.
"Zhou Sheng," she said. "I won't come to see you next year."
She had said this for three years.
If she could live her life over again, she would make sure he had a safe and happy life.
