The Tracks and the Wilderness [Broken Up, Reunited]

They are each other's first love: gentle, overworked older sister x needy, puppy-like rich boy, with a seven-year age gap

*

At twenty-seven, Yu Siwei quit her job and moved to the mountains.

Until then, she had spent twenty-six years living up to her mother's expectations. Cooking had been the only breathing space in her busy work life.

Then the boy next door shoved 4,000 yuan into her hands, his ears burning red. "Could you call me over to eat whenever you cook from now on?"

After that, he came over every weekend. She cooked, he washed the dishes. Whenever she took half a step back, he took a full step forward, filling every inch of the space she had left behind.

She thought she'd hidden her feelings well. But after he wolfed down two bowls of pork ribs with hawthorn, he suddenly looked up and asked, "Sis, did you have a hard time growing up?"

He saw a light in her that even she hadn't recognized. And she gave him the shape of a home he had long hoped for.

*

On the day they parted, she said, "I hope you go chase your own wild open spaces. As long as you believe in yourself, I'll believe in you too."

But she was lying: she didn't believe in herself. She was seven years older than him. She was afraid of growing old first, afraid that the next twenty years of his life, which should have been wide open, would narrow down to a single name: Yu Siwei.

*

Life in the mountains waits for no one. The fog must lift, the porridge must boil, and the children are lined up at her door, waiting for her lesson.

On the old bookshelf in the classroom, she found a donated book. The handwriting on the title page was familiar: For you, who loves mathematics.

Life has no standard answers, but Lin Ye placed her among all the answers in Yu Siwei's future.

[Reader's guide]

1. The early chapters include plenty of East Asian mother-daughter dynamics, life as an overworked civil servant, and other such elements. This is a realistic, healing story, primarily focused on the female lead's growth and finding herself.

2. The writing is slice-of-life, and both leads grow over time. Neither is perfect, and they each have their flaws.

3. Updates follow the ranking schedule when listed. Otherwise, updates are at 11 a.m. every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday.

Theme: Life has no standard answers, but you can find your way to your own wild open spaces.