In the winter of the twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China, Shen Qingyan returned from Cambridge and set foot on Shiliupu Pier. During the crowd's jostling, he kicked a worn-out sole.
Under the sack was a huddled young man, covered in blood and burned, as thin as a handful of firewood, but still alive. Shen Qingyan knelt down, took off his scarf and put it under his head, and carried him home.
The man didn't remember anything after he woke up, only a vague word "cross".
Shen Qingyan named him Adu. Teach him to use chopsticks, teach him to taste tea, and take him to listen to "The Palace of Eternal Life". He was lost in thought while looking at the map on a rainy night and said, "Looking for the person I forgot." He took Shen Qingyan's newly made cotton robe under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree and said, "If I remember it one day."
Shen Qingyan didn't ask anything. He just stood guard.
Until December 12, the Japanese army bombed the outer perimeter of the concession. The explosion shattered the windows of Shen's mansion, and a coded knock sounded outside the door.
A'Du stopped in the corridor and raised his hand to fumble around the edge of the scar on his face. Then he tore it off - the thin layer of camouflage fell to the ground, revealing the smooth, intact skin underneath. He took out a copper badge from his arms, placed it on the table, and pushed it in front of Shen Qingyan.
"Mr. Shen, what you picked up is not a stray dog. I am the last liaison officer of the North China Station of the Military Command."
Shen Qingyan looked at the badge for a long time. Then he asked: What is your name?
"Lu Huaidu."
That night, Shen Qingyan brewed a pot of Phoenix Dancong. They sat facing each other and refilled their tea seven times. After the seventh refill, the tea soup was as light as water.
A'Du stood up. Shen Qingyan sat still and said, "Let's go."
Shiliupu Wharf, the same river, the same leaden sky. A'Du stepped onto the board of the small steamer, turned his back to Shen Qingyan and said, "I only believed in you."
The boat left. Shen Qingyan stood on the pier and waited for the wind to blow up the scarf - the smoky gray scarf with the word "Du" sewn on it by A'du and sent back by someone.
He waited for the spring of a river.
The spring breeze does not cross the Huangpu River.
But there was a scarf in his arms, close to his heart.
Concept: In an era when the spring breeze cannot survive, some people live their lives like a boat.