Fang Yu came out of the depths of Liangshan.
He had never been to college and didn't know many people. The messages he received most often on his phone were job alerts from recruitment websites.
He found work at a county-town parcel depot. Night shift, paid daily, 120 yuan a day.
Shen Huai was covering a friend's shift. He was from the county town, with pale hands, and worked slowly. He didn't look like he belonged there.
They stood at adjacent sorting stations, with a conveyor belt between them.
At three in the morning, in the empty lot behind the warehouse, they each smoked a cigarette and said, "This job is fucking exhausting."
Fang Yu never thought this person would have anything to do with him.
He never thought that far ahead.
But later, Shen Huai came again.
Not to cover a shift, not passing by. He came specifically to see him.
Fang Yu didn't know why he came.
Shen Huai might not have known either.
[Content Warnings]
Very slow burn. The first twenty chapters may be mostly everyday life.
There is a period of lost contact, and they spend several years apart.
Includes family opposition, a controlling mother, and class differences.
The pursuing partner is very passive early on, even a little cold.
The pursued partner is extremely insecure and loves humbly; his behavior may be frustrating to read.
The pursued partner never went to college, and the pursuing partner doesn't have much education either.
A lot of dialect, including Sichuan dialect and the Liangshan accent.
The pursued partner, Fang Yu, is a working-class laborer: poor, suffering, and frustrated. He will not turn his life around.
Theme: Poverty and love are both things people find hard to say aloud
