A Sour Year

After an accident, freshman Lin Qingzhao and her senior, Yao Yuanting, spent one night as husband and wife.

The next day, Yao Yuanting was arrested. Soon after, news spread that he'd been executed.

Lin Qingzhao became a "widow."

Years later, they meet again.

Her "dead husband" returns home in glory, now the head of a corporation, searching everywhere for his wife.

But time has changed everything, and Lin Qingzhao is engaged to someone else.

Their status is worlds apart. Bound by morality, they both know it can never work out.

But someone refuses to give up, testing the waters openly and in secret.

Every attempt is firmly avoided by Lin Qingzhao, who is determined to protect her reputation.

So one night, Yao Yuanting asks Lin Qingzhao to meet him.

Lin Qingzhao arrives late. A tall, lonely shadow stands on the beach, waiting there for a long time.

She silently walks over and stands behind him.

Yao Yuanting doesn't turn around. He knows she's there. After a long silence, as if making a tremendous effort, he says, "That night five years ago..."

He's calm, clear-headed, decisive, and not one to get entangled in romance. Surely he means to erase the tangle between them and part ways cleanly.

Unable to be a woman who is rejected and cast aside, Lin Qingzhao holds back her heartache and cuts in with a smile: "It's been too long. I've forgotten. We should look ahead."

Then she waves goodbye and walks away with a flourish.

He is left alone where he stands, the "discarded husband."

*

They have been out of touch for some time. Yao Yuanting's career is booming, and Lin Qingzhao can only read about his growing success in the media. The praise never ends: a refined businessman, restrained and reserved, a man of impeccable manners...

Lin Qingzhao strokes the newspaper bearing Yao Yuanting's picture again and again, her fingers trembling uncontrollably.

He seems so busy he's forgotten her. She can't blame him. She was the one who pushed him away, and he merely did as she wished.

But the bitter taste of getting what she deserved surges through her, killing the years one by one.

On another night, without warning, Yao Yuanting suddenly shows up outside the home Lin Qingzhao shares with another man. Like a mad dog, he berates her: "You were the one who got engaged to someone else first, moved in with someone else first, got pregnant first. You were the one who gave up on me!"

In the end, it is still him. His shattered gaze is like scattered shards of glass, glistening with tears as he begs her to forgive him: "I just miss you so much. I want you to give me half of yourself."

But then he takes it back: "No, I'm just greedy. I want all of you, forever."

*

[Set in the 1980s and 1990s, urban romance, a small ensemble cast, with everyday life among ordinary people]

[Fictional story, not based on real events]

[Comments on individual chapters are open]

Theme: In the tides of the times, people are specks of dust, drifting with the current or riding the wind and waves