She Came from the Fireworks

A Hua had only one rule in life: stay alive.

On a winter night in a ruined temple, she found a girl nearly frozen to death in the snow. She gave her the only threadbare quilt she owned, and used the copper coins she had saved in a crack in the stone to hire a doctor.

When the girl woke, she blushed and handed her a neatly mended old garment.

They made a home together. A few coins they shared were hidden in a hole in the wall. A hot bun someone couldn't bring herself to eat waited in the pot. On summer nights, their fingernails were stained red with balsam flowers.

Later, a peddler came to town and kept striking up conversations with A Hua.

That night, A Lian quietly tossed the mugwort she had bought with three months of her secret savings into the stove.

Looking at her red-rimmed eyes, A Hua suddenly understood everything.

From a ruined temple to a little courtyard, from staying alive to living, from you and me to us

It had taken five years to get here.

In all those five years, A Lian had only figured out one thing:

A Hua was hers alone.

No one was allowed to take her.

Theme: There are still distant horizons and beautiful scenery