Thirty-two-year-old Cheng Wu works as a book editor in Beijing.
When her mother was suddenly hospitalized, she took leave and returned to the provincial capital where she had lived for eighteen years. In the crowded ward, she faced her mother's aging again, and had to admit that the life she called independence and freedom was far less solid than she imagined.
Thirty-five-year-old Chen Fang runs a barely-sustainable advertising store. After his father suffered a stroke, he dealt with collections, orders and employee wages during the day, and went to the hospital to stay with his sister at night. He is used to asking about the cost first and then the results. He is also used to hiding his own difficulties before others ask.
The hospital beds of the two elderly people happened to be next to each other.
Cheng Wu felt that Chen Fang was cold, shrewd, and calculated everything too clearly; Chen Fang thought that Cheng Wu seemed respectable, but in fact he couldn't even understand a hospital bill. They originally only occasionally looked after each other's wards, but gradually became familiar with each other's most embarrassing state.
The corridor at two o'clock in the morning, the breakfast stall in front of the hospital, the mobile phone that was never fully charged, and a bowl of noodles that was only eaten when the old man was asleep - no one seriously said that they liked it, but some dependence had already occurred in the trivial matters day after day.
But the patient will eventually be discharged.
Cheng Wu has to return to Beijing to keep his shaky job, while Chen Fang must stay in the provincial capital to take care of his father who has lost the ability to take care of himself. They have both passed the age where they believe love can solve everything, and they both understand that asking the other person to give up their original life does not prove that their love is deeper.
These are two people who are pushed forward by reality. While taking on their own lives, they are still willing to make room little by little, waiting for another person to come closer.
Concept: Some feelings happen in the gaps in life. No one is ready at the beginning, and no one is willing at the end.