Original female protagonist x Shen Guhong
I wrote this many years ago and am sharing it now.
A melody that breaks the heart, colder still than frost.
That was Su Shuanghua's assessment of Yuanzi's flute playing when Tang Qingfeng first met her.
Five-year-old Tang Qingfeng didn't understand what it meant to have a broken heart.
He didn't understand why Senior Sister Yuanzi's flute always carried such endless sorrow and worry, either.
The head steward told him Yuanzi had never smiled. If he could make her smile, he would give him half a day off.
Tang Qingfeng wanted Senior Sister Yuanzi to smile, but not for the time off. He simply wanted her to.
Everyone he'd met smiled now and then, whether they were happy or not, but Senior Sister Yuanzi seemed incapable of smiling.
He once asked Shen Zuihua, "Is Senior Sister Yuanzi really good at music?"
Shen Zuihua replied, "Yes, she's very good. But don't you dare learn from her."
There were only four things in Senior Sister Yuanzi's life: eating, sleeping, practicing martial arts, and practicing music.
After Tang Qingfeng came to Yihua Island, there was one more: keeping him company.
When he was with Senior Sister Yuanzi, he always acted like a child his age should.
Tang Qingrong once said he'd never been cute, even as a little boy.
That's right. Only Yuanzi thought little Qingfeng was cute.
The first time he saw Senior Sister Yuanzi smile was when someone on the island passed away. By Yihua's custom, a lantern was lit on Hengxia Islet for the deceased.
Senior Sister Yuanzi gazed at the lantern, at Hengxia Islet reflected in its glow, and at the sea. Then, suddenly, she smiled.
Tang Qingfeng asked Senior Sister Yuanzi why she was smiling.
She said, "All rivers flow to the sea. I was always destined to become a grain of sand in it."
Tang Qingfeng didn't understand.
Senior Sister Yuanzi patted his head. "You'll understand one day. In the end, every one of us will become a grain of sand."
Theme: The cricket's fading dream, the returning swan's unspoken thoughts.
