July 14, 2014, 10:47 p.m., Sanjiangkou.
An unlit sand barge collided with the last ferry and capsized it.
Captain Jiang Huaiyuan pushed nine people to shore, then sank into the river himself.
That night, seventeen-year-old Jiang Wanting waited for someone on the eastern pier, clutching two umbrellas. She waited for forty minutes.
She didn't know that the boy she was waiting for was on that unlit boat, holding the helm.
Ten years later, she became an accident investigator for the Maritime Safety Administration. On her first night back in Xunzhou, there was another sand barge on the river with its lights off.
He stood on deck and reached out to her. "Duyuan Shipping. Cheng Du."
Polite and distant, as if they were meeting for the first time.
But the hand hanging at his side kept curling into a fist.
He owed her father a life, and owed her the words he hadn't dared to say for ten years.
She wanted to uncover the truth about that night. Even if the final line of the truth bore his name, and her own.
"Why aren't the lights on?"
"Because if they're on, someone will see."
"The lights are on now. Can you see me?"
Dual timelines | Reunion after a long separation | Restrained and repressed
Clear-headed, stubborn female investigator x silent, stoic shipping company owner
Ten years ago, he couldn't make it across that river.
Ten years later, he has to set sail on time. Not a minute of waiting.
Core Theme: Face the truth and take responsibility for past mistakes, then rebuild love and light on the ruins.
