Wen Yan first meets Xie Heng in an alley outside a psychiatric hospital. He's crouched on the ground picking up a medicine box, his eyes red at the corners and two pimples on the back of his neck.
Xie Heng watches him for three seconds, then bends down and leaves a business card by his feet.
Later, Wen Yan starts selling red roses on a street corner. Five yuan a stem. When they wilt, he packs up for the day.
Xie Heng passes that street every night.
"Short on money?"
"No. My dad's medication... I'm earning it myself."
Xie Heng crouches down and takes a wilted rose from his arms.
"Come to my company tomorrow."
Wen Yan doesn't know that Xie Heng's father is in the same psychiatric hospital. Xie Heng doesn't know that Wen Yan leaves a rose on his desk every day because he just can't find anything else to say.
They both think they're keeping secrets.
One hides his fear. The other hides his pain.
Later, when Wen Yan's fever reaches 39 degrees, Xie Heng calls him seventeen times without an answer. In the end, he pries the door open, wraps Wen Yan in his coat, and carries him downstairs.
In the back seat of the car, Xie Heng's ears are bright red.
Wen Yan sleepily opens his eyes and sees his Adam's apple bob.
"Mr. Xie..."
"Shut up."
He wraps the coat a little tighter around him.
Wen Yan buries his face in it and smiles. His little canine catches on Xie Heng's cufflink with a click.
The blossoms of the cherry and the catalpa are splendid; their calyces shine in full bloom.
They're like two little trees that grew crooked, their roots tangled together, neither willing to let go.
Theme: Love and healing from trauma. Even if you were born into a broken family, you can still become medicine for each other.
