The cool and restrained tuner × the silent, stubborn and mute painter
When Zhong Mi turned thirty, summer came very early.
She guards an old bookstore in the west of the city, wiping the metronome, repairing old books, and listening to the rain hitting the tin eaves every day. The days are like a slow clock, taking its time until the clockwork is completely rusted.
When Lu Yu pushed open the door, the wind chime rang twice.
The girl can't speak. But she comes here every day and writes a note every day. Her handwriting is round and light, as if she is afraid of waking up something. She named every plant in the bookstore and filled three sketchbooks with Zhong Mi's profile. She painted herself next to Zhong Mi in the painting in the attic and wrote: "I will always be here, not further."
She said: "It doesn't matter if you open it short. It just needs to be true when you open it."
"The key opens the door. I don't want people to be locked out," she said.
It took Zhong Mi the whole summer to dare to take that step towards her. Come closer, reach out, hold. She thought that after taking the step out, the two of them could slowly walk the rest of the way.
——But she doesn't know.
There was a page in the book "Journey of Sound" that she had dog-eared.
The pot of succulents called "Xiaoyu" is still on the bookshelf.
A carved wooden key hung from the attic doorknob.
In Lu Yu's paintings, there is always an empty space on the windowsill.
Everyone thought the days ahead were long.
Only the seventh second knew - no.
---
What she wanted to say was all in the painting.
What she didn't say was in the seventh second.
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Before opening the first chapter, remember these seven words:
The echo disappeared at the seventh second.
You will read to the last page and realize -
The title of the book is the answer.
Intention: Hear the voice of silence and respond to late confessions - when it's too late
