Say Goodbye Before We Meet Again

Zhou Luo thought he would go on drifting through life in a daze. Then the distance between the desks in front of and behind him broke the quiet. Over the years that followed, three girls would enter his life, one after another. One was quiet and perceptive, one warm and straightforward, and one seemed to be perfectly in sync with him. Timid and slow on the uptake, he never knew how to seize the moment. He stumbled through one pang of affection and one loss after another. In the book of youth, where there are no standard answers, perhaps what matters is not holding on to one particular person, but finally seeing yourself clearly after people have come and gone. All we can do is say goodbye before we meet again. Theme: A coming-of-age campus novel rooted in the authentic experiences and emotional growth of ordinary people. The protagonist, Zhou Luo, begins as an apathetic, easygoing high school boy who simply drifts along. Over the long years of youth spanning high school and college, he meets three girls, each with a completely different personality, warmth, and way of getting along with him. Every encounter is an awkward, sincere, youthful trial of the heart. His high school encounters bring small flutters across the desks, tentative explorations of affection, and the close bonds of spending each day together. Two very different girls, one gentle and laid-back, the other bright and forthright, bring color and emotional ups and downs to the quiet, uneventful boy's life for the first time. They teach him to acknowledge his feelings and cherish the people he meets. The third encounter, after he enters college, is marked by greater maturity, restraint, tension, and regret, forcing him to face affection, acceptance, distance, choices, and parting. This book has no earth-shattering, melodramatic romance, no perfect characters, and no all-consuming devotion. It portrays the most genuine feelings of ordinary young people: their timidity, slowness to understand, missed chances, failure to cherish what they have, and belated realizations. Three connections of varying depth, three entirely different heartbeats and endings, trace Zhou Luo's full journey of growth: From a passive, stiff boy who doesn't know how to express himself, he gradually learns to take initiative, show tenderness, shoulder responsibility, say goodbye, and find fulfillment within himself. The meaning of youth has never been about holding on to someone. It is about becoming a better version of yourself through one encounter and farewell after another. Every flutter of the heart, every regret, every joy and disappointment eventually becomes part of the foundation of growth. People come and go in the crowd. Three leave, and one grows.