The full manuscript is being written and saved as I go.
Gentle, rational philosophy PhD, younger pursuer x rough, hot-tempered repairman, older recipient
Ning Jing was short-tempered and quick to anger, getting by with a casual "damn it" at every turn. After wandering around for a few years, he came slinking back to his small hometown to take over the family repair shop.
It's the twenty-first century. Who still gets umbrellas and flashlights repaired, or enamel basins patched up? Ning Jing's inherited craft skills were all put to use fixing household appliances that the elderly townsfolk had broken while attempting repairs themselves.
During the longest plum rain season in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze in a decade, a malfunctioning radio drifted into the repair shop along with the rain. A young man in a white shirt had come home for a funeral. Carrying a black umbrella, he walked silently into Ning Jing's life.
Chi Wangyan studied philosophy. He had just earned his PhD and come back to his hometown for a while to attend a funeral. He was well-read, eloquent, gentle in manner, and occasionally fussy.
He wouldn't eat rice with oil on it, and he couldn't stand wrinkles in his shirts. What he hated most about life in the small town was constantly stepping in dog shit. He'd started changing his shoes much more often.
He was a fanatical health enthusiast who could chat with old ladies about anything. In his twenties, his favorite daily treat was chrysanthemum tea with jujube slices.
Ning Jing couldn't understand a single word of some things he said offhand, but he was still bewitched. He studied so hard for a self-taught bachelor's degree that he practically burned the midnight oil, hoping to go north with him.
Even before he could confess his crush, Chi Wangyan had sensed it, brought it up directly, and rejected him without hesitation.
Chi Wangyan always said, "If I ever stop loving you, I'll be even more devastated than you. That's why I can't be with you."
Ning Jing couldn't understand. Was this another one of those tired old philosophical theories?
The plum rain season ended, and the repaired radio was picked up.
The tape recorder on Ning Jing's shelf, full of all the feelings he couldn't say aloud, no longer had a reason to be given away, because that man was most afraid of struggling against his fate.
Later, while drinking with a friend, they happened to talk about him. The friend asked, "Why did you two split up back then?"
Thinking of the dusty practice books in his drawer, Ning Jing answered calmly, "I've gotten used to staying here. This little town can't hold on to his free spirit."
Reader advisory: This is an older recipient/younger pursuer romance, with an open ending.
Theme: Love for your own sake
