The Wind Frees the Captive Heart

A relentlessly persistent pursuer with patience so absurdly good that she is courteous to everyone else but never lets up with her wife, and a pursued woman whose pretty face comes with a heart always ready to turn the table

Xu Jing has only one rule for socializing: if you can get away without speaking, don't speak.

Ye Jin also has only one rule for socializing: once you start talking, don't stop.

On the first day they sat together, Xu Jing thought the person beside her was a radio. In their first month as deskmates, she realized the radio never got tired. By the end of their first semester, she realized she had actually started listening.

She wasn't deliberately ignoring people. She just felt that speaking wasn't worth the effort. Say too much and people think you're putting on airs; say too little and they think you're cold. Say just the right amount? She couldn't be bothered. Her daily vocabulary was “Mm,” “Okay,” and “Got it.” An extra word now and then was already her biggest allowance for the day.

Then someone sat beside her and talked to her a lot every day. She talked about how to solve problems, which dishes in the cafeteria were worth eating, and the name of the flowering tree by the school gate. At first, Xu Jing found it annoying. Later, she realized the other person didn't wait for a reply when she finished. She was just telling Xu Jing these things.

Xu Jing never said thank you. But she started listening.

Xu Jing seemed like someone who had everything. Good grades, a high ranking, and a beautiful face even when she didn't smile. But if you really asked what she wanted, she'd probably think for a long time, then say, “Nothing.”

Later, someone told her that people who say “nothing” usually do so because they've never been given the things they want.

The word “initiative” didn't exist in Xu Jing's dictionary. Make friends first? No need. Start a conversation? Too much trouble. Take the initiative to like someone? Never crossed her mind.

But life is strange. The less you want something, the more it keeps coming your way. Like someone who spent an entire semester asking you how to solve math problems. Like someone who crouched down in an alley by the school gate to help you pick up your things. Like someone who heard another person say that you “used to smile” and didn't ask a single question.

Xu Jing eventually realized that some people aren't there to demand answers. They're just there to sit beside you. You don't have to say anything. They'll wait.

Theme: The wind isn't anything dramatic. It just blows day after day, unhurried and calm, leaving no trace. Then one day you look back and find that the door you thought would never open has already swung wide.