The Warmth Still Lingers

Jiang Nianshu has inappropriate feelings for her mother's ex-girlfriend, a woman she's never even met.

She knew from a very young age that her mother didn't love her father.

The two of them argued constantly, and one woman's name always came up: Shen Shu.

Shen Shu. Nianshu.

Whenever her mother called her by name, she would often seem lost in thought.

From childhood, Jiang Nianshu had been curious about this auntie whose name was so similar to her own.

She wanted to know what kind of woman could make her mother unable to forget her, even after giving birth to her.

In her mother's drawer, she found yellowed letters and a photo of two people together.

Her mother looked almost exactly like her when she was young. If Jiang Nianshu didn't look closely, she could easily mistake the woman in the photo for herself.

The other half of the picture showed a gentle woman with exquisitely beautiful features. Her long hair curled slightly, and her eyes were a pale amber.

Jiang Nianshu's heart suddenly skipped a beat. She knew this woman's name almost at once.

Shen Shu.

Almost as if possessed, she secretly kept the photo and cut off the half with her mother in it.

The woman in the remaining half of the photo filled her entire teenage imagination.

When she was eighteen, her parents died, leaving behind debts of over a million.

Amid her grief, Jiang Nianshu felt a secret flicker of anticipation.

Because now, she could finally meet Shen Shu.

*

Eighteen years ago, her ex-girlfriend had left her with the words, "It would have been better if you were a man," then quickly married and had a child, dumping her.

Shen Shu had never dated again since. She devoted herself entirely to her career.

That is, until she received an invitation to her ex's funeral.

That awful woman had died, leaving behind a huge debt and a poor girl whose parents were both gone.

At the funeral, Shen Shu saw the girl.

She looked ninety percent like her mother, but was a little younger and more inexperienced, like a rose just about to bloom.

And she had a lovely name: Jiang Nianshu.

The slender girl stood before Shen Shu and timidly called her "older sister," wearing a beautiful face so like her mother's.

Shen Shu stared, momentarily dazed, and her heart wavered too.

Theme: Love carries on