The north wall was going to be demolished, so Cheng Yan returned to Linyuan. The glass bottle was still tucked between the bricks. In the photo, five people stood huddled close together.
Xu Jianing's wish back then was a simple one. The note read: I hope I can sit next to Song Jiayin again next year.
Back then, they would argue over a single problem for ages, then take the long way home together after school. Later, Song Jiayin's desk stayed empty, even as the bus to the provincial capital made trip after trip. When Xu Jianing left, Cheng Yan still couldn't bring himself to give her the letter he'd written.
He kept that letter for many years. Only now, unfolding it again, did he realize that no matter how much he'd written, he was still waiting for her to understand how much he couldn't bear to let her go.
