My name is Lu Jinzhou.
At thirty-seven, I unexpectedly ran into the mother of my high school crush, Tang Ciyu, at the hospital.
Auntie told me Tang Ciyu had passed away three years ago.
I remembered the summer of my second year of high school, when someone saw her in the alley behind the school. Then the rumors started spreading.
They said her aloofness was an act, that she fooled around with men in private, that she had done something shameful in that alley.
Back then, I laughed along with everyone else.
I thought that the girl everyone at school adored was no better than anyone else.
It wasn't until I learned the whole truth in the hospital corridor that I understood.
I also learned something else: when I was almost expelled from school, Tang Ciyu had secretly gone to the principal to plead for me.
And back then, I hadn't even said thank you.
When I opened my eyes again,
I was seventeen once more.
At the mouth of the alley, Tang Ciyu was walking in with her head down, clutching a plastic bag.
She saw me.
"You didn't see anything," she said. "Close your eyes."
I didn't.
I looked at her pale, bloodless face and the fresh needle marks on her arm.
In my previous life, I had joined everyone else in laughing at her, all her life long.
In this life,
I wanted to make up for everything I owed her.
