The Violinist’s Death

[A sweet story about two people reborn, featuring a cool-headed, obsessive, devoted physicist x a proud, ambitious, mercurial violinist] [Signed for simplified Chinese publication. Updates: @Jinjiang Ren Yuan Ge] When Fu Lingjun got a call from her family, she was making observations at an observatory on the rim of a volcano. The telescope operator stared at the image and sighed. “We can confirm this one is dead.” Perhaps the signal was poor in such a remote place. All Fu Lingjun could hear was the phone crackling as it repeated, “Tinglin died in an accident...” She got up and went outside. The starry sky stretched into the distance, and the world was utterly silent. The stars overhead seemed ready to fall from the sky. That year, she and Zheng Tinglin were twenty-five. The professors and colleagues at the research institute couldn’t understand Fu Lingjun. She had such a bright future, yet she suddenly devoted herself to a useless project, wasting years of work and exceptional talent. But Fu Lingjun was convinced that infinite possibilities were hidden in its depths. Chaos and prediction would no longer be insurmountable problems, and going back in time would no longer be a joke. Reason told her that the past was gone, but the sound of a violin wouldn’t leave her mind, and one person’s mischievous smile would stay with her forever. She had a reason she couldn’t ignore. The world laughed at her for being crazy, not knowing that love could cross every dimension and travel through time and space, all for one backward glance. In the bright morning light, Zheng Tinglin awoke from a long sleep. She opened her eyes, and tears streamed down them as the sunlight stung. Her hands were injured, and her mother was driving toward Jiangcheng. The posts active online all showed, without exception, that this was the summer when she was seventeen. It was as if someone had pressed pause, then dragged her back to this unhappy year. In a daze, she was taken to the Fu family home. When she met those familiar, tranquil dark eyes, she was surprised to see Fu Lingjun sitting in a wheelchair. A butterfly in the rainforest might flap its wings once by chance and set off countless chain reactions. Zheng Tinglin realized belatedly that nothing was the same. In her wheelchair, Fu Lingjun’s back was still straight, but her features were no longer cold and hard. She seemed relieved, or perhaps grateful. “I’ve finally waited for you.” Zheng Tinglin blinked once and replied politely, “It really has been a long time.” [When we first met, it felt as if an old friend had returned.] 1. Cool-headed, devoted physicist x proud, ambitious, mercurial violinist. 2. Please don’t scrutinize the classical music, physics, or astronomy in this story. 3. Both leads are reborn. The setting is partly fictionalized, and the romance develops very slowly. Fu’s leg will recover. Thank you for reading. My next story, “A Sincere Confession,” is listed in my collection. Song Zhiyun rejected Li Xingruo the way she rejected luxury goods: gorgeous but impractical, and nothing but a burden. Li Xingruo loved Song Zhiyun the way she was obsessed with a cup of poisoned wine: it burned her heart and entrails, but she craved it like life itself. Years later, they meet again. Song Zhiyun suddenly stopped in front of a street artist’s stall and sat down with effortless poise. After a long pause, the artist finally spoke. “Don’t you draw portraits anymore?” Without looking up, Li Xingruo replied, “I don’t draw you anymore.” A second chance at love, from high school to college to the workplace. A grounded coming-of-age story, with two women who have only ever loved each other and no male romantic rivals. Theme: Though the world has kissed me with pain, I answer it with song