Shen Xiaoqiang fell for Xie Miao at first sight.
She clumsily arranged chance encounters and tried to find her way into his life. She went to great lengths to learn the dances he liked... all just to get his attention.
Until one day, another girl appeared by his side.
The girl had bright eyes and a beautiful smile, and she casually hooked her arm through his. "Tell me, do I dance better, or does Shen Xiaoqiang?"
Xie Miao: "Who is Shen Xiaoqiang?"
One sentence, and she was defeated.
It turned out she was the only one who, in her unrequited love, had played the fool, absurdly repeating that one-person performance a thousand times over.
At graduation, Shen Xiaoqiang decided to run into the same wall one more time. She sent him a love letter, staking everything on it.
No one came to meet her. The girl was left with a plain card bearing the number "525."
She mocked herself: three years of secret love, and all she had to show for it was an elusive number ticket with no date attached.
In a fit of pique, she deleted every last one of Xie Miao's contact details, as if that might reclaim a little dignity from those three years of youth.
Years later, a duet Shen Xiaoqiang performed with a fellow disciple, "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River," took the internet by storm. Everyone started shipping the two of them.
At a high school reunion, Shen Xiaoqiang showed up as promised. The graceful silhouette of the young woman drew everyone's eyes.
The boys in her class joked that they should have made their move sooner, then begged her to give them a chance.
Someone in the crowd teased, "She's already got a senior fellow disciple. If you want to cut in line, you'll have to take a number!"
Shen Xiaoqiang's gaze swept over to the impeccably dressed man. She slipped the card with the number "525" from back then into Xie Miao's pocket.
"Some people quietly leave before a flower has bloomed, but when it finally blossoms, others always come flocking. Isn't that right, Mr. Xie?"
A little payback.
Xie Miao only smiled without saying a word. He downed the red wine on the table, swallowing the bitterness in his heart.
No one knew that he had once bent down and, with utmost reverence, stolen a kiss from that unopened flower.
That night, Xie Miao sat alone in his study and, as if punishing himself, watched that duet video over and over until dawn.
He took the love letter out of the drawer. A line of elegant handwriting was printed on its yellowed back:
"I want to keep a rose for myself, to make her mine alone. But I don't want her to fade in an instant. I want her to bloom forever in summer." - Xie Miao
Shen Xiaoqiang thought there was an enormous gulf between her and Xie Miao, but she never imagined that he, too, had once crawled through thorns, covered in mud, to kiss his rose.
Theme: Be brave and pursue love.
