In the humid and hot southern town, Shen Xiruo was like a vine entangled in shadows, struggling in the cage of depression for many years. Labeled as an "ominous person" by malicious rumors during her childhood, she spent her days behind the bank counter counting other people's money, but her own world was so barren that only the indifference from her parents and the scrutiny of neighbors remained.
Gu Chen's appearance was like a light that split the dark clouds. This architecture student, who is four years younger than Shen Xiruo, has a fiery vitality like a sunflower and stubbornly illuminates her gloomy world. He would escort her home late at night after working overtime, remember her habit of drinking coffee without sugar, and silently hold an umbrella to protect her on rainy nights when she collapsed.
The turning point occurred when a maliciously secretly photographed photo of Gu Chen sending a drunken Shen Xiruo home was made into a scandal about "a female bank employee seducing a college student". The finger-pointing between neighbors gradually escalated into public insults. Gu Chen's parents took Shen Xiruo's "evidence of reputation" to the bank to make a fuss and demanded a transfer. The most fatal blow came from her own parents: "I have told you not to mess with normal people."
On the August afternoon when the cicadas were singing at their peak, Shen Xiruo swallowed the sleeping pills she had accumulated for three years. In her suicide note, she compared Gu Chen to a sunflower that always follows the sun: "Your summer should not be trapped in the humid rainy season. Go bloom in a place without shadow." But the sunflower that belonged to her could not wait to bloom in the summer.
Purpose: Verbal violence can kill, good intentions need to be protected.
