Half Full

Lily+Shuangjie+Lengyan Yujie Teacher & Gaozhi Translator Puppy Seven years. Jingli thought that he had long ago sorted out the secret love affair that ended in nothing. The youngest chief translator of the Translation Office of the Provincial Foreign Affairs Office, wearing suits and skirts and simultaneous interpretation boxes, has built countless language bridges between provincial leaders and foreign guests. Decent, calm and precise, you should have developed a solid body long ago. Until the day she returned to the small town for business, she sat down by the window in the cafe and looked up to see the person she hadn't seen in seven years - Li Shuwei, her high school teacher, standing in front of the counter holding a coffee cup. The afternoon light cut a sharp outline on his profile, exactly the same as when he was seventeen years old. She came over with coffee and sat down opposite Jingli. "Long time no see." She said, "I heard you are doing well." Jingli tightened his grip on the cup wall, his knuckles turning white. At the graduation ceremony seven years ago, she stood on the edge of the playground and watched Li Shuwei being surrounded by the crowd for a group photo. She was unable to walk over and say a word from the beginning to the end. She thought that if the time was long enough and the distance was enough, the shady thoughts would be smoothed away. But Li Shuwei just leaned towards her, tapped his fingertips on the table twice, and asked in a low voice: "Are you now--" "Do you still like me?" Jingli froze on the spot. The sunlight poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and fell on the heat rising from the cup of coffee between them. The cruelest game for adults is to ask questions even though you know the answer. What's even more cruel is that the other party clearly knows the answer, but still smiles and waits for you to say it yourself. What Jingli didn't know was that during the seven years of her absence, Li Shuwei's notebook contained a yellowed photo - it was a girl sleeping on the desk one summer, the sun fell on the back of her hand, and there was a shallow tooth mark next to the tiger's mouth. That girl is Jingli. Intention: Time will not smooth out sincerity, it will only polish it into something sharper - sharp enough to cut through all the hesitations hidden under dignity. Half full is better than half full, but for some people, half full is everything.