It was his seventh year stationed at the northeastern border. She had just won a major design award in Paris. When a reporter asked about her relationship, she looked into the camera and said, "My husband is a soldier."
That night, he appeared in her hotel room wearing his fatigues, covered in snow and wind, his eyes red. She felt the bandage wrapped around his lower back. The blood had dried to a brown stain. He lowered his head and kissed her. "Don't cry. It doesn't hurt. I just... missed you too much."
Eight thousand kilometers of snow and wind, a seven-hour time difference, seven years apart. Shangguan Che and Yuchi Qing, from their high school sports field to the northeastern border, from the Seine in Paris to the Guiqi brand in Beijing. Every night he stood guard on the border, rifle in hand; every early morning she spent drawing satellite orbit diagrams in a Paris library. Everyone said a military romance was too hard, but every time their video call connected and he called her "Cheche," it was enough to carry her through the whole winter.
Later, her communications towers reached every corner of his post. Her brand was called "Guiqi," and his promises came in letters sent one by one through the snowy winds of the northeast. The day he was transferred back to Beijing, he picked her up and spun her around three times. "Cheche, from now on, your homecoming will be mine too."
Qingche. Him and her. Seven thousand kilometers of snow and wind, seven years apart, both journeying toward each other, never wavering.
Theme: He guards the border; she guards the time difference. He stands watch in the snowy winds of the northeast; she draws plans in the Paris morning light. He cleans his rifle at the border; she traces signals onto satellite orbit diagrams. They are both strong, and neither is the other's appendage. Every meeting is a journey toward one another, and every parting paves the way for their reunion.
