Perhaps an Old Friend Has Returned

Ban Feng, the masterpiece that made rising screenwriter Shao Siyan a legend, was screened at its premiere. A reporter asked her, "Shao, is your screenplay entirely fictional, or was it inspired by real people?"

Facing the relentless flashes, Shao Siyan gave a mysterious smile toward a corner of the audience. "When the false is taken for real, even the real seems false. I'm merely someone fortunate enough to have heard a story."

The fortunate listener stood onstage; the person caught up in the story sat below.

In the corner, in the shadows untouched by the lights, someone slowly rose and left. The drama on the screen had ended, but she had been trapped in it for two lifetimes, willingly imprisoned within its boundaries, all for one name: Huo Lingshu.

In her previous life, they met at five, parted at eighteen, and were separated by death at twenty-two. Before she died, she paid any price to bring her old friend back to her.

In this life, they met again on Mount Sui, but neither remembered the other, until Huo Lingshu once more left for a distant land...

Beneath old paulownias and fresh leaves, one might think an old friend has returned.

Time passes, yet the mountains and rivers remain. Given another life, can you and I both have our wishes fulfilled?

Note:

1. Updated daily. I'm filling in an old abandoned project, and the entire novel is already written, so it won't be dropped.

2. The writing is both plain and overwrought, and anything involving professional fields is pure invention.

Theme: Keeping someone company