When Jiang Cixin was twelve, a younger boy named Chen Cinian came to stay with his family. The boy had big eyes like black grapes, but he cried too easily, and Jiang Cixin found his crying annoying.
On a summer night when he turned eighteen, beneath a sparse scattering of stars, Chen Cinian held his guitar and sang:
a thousand years Christina Perri
My heart beats faster
Colors and promises
The world in your eyes is vivid and radiant, and you made me a steadfast promise
How to be brave
How can I be brave?
How can I love when I’m afraid to fall
If I’m afraid to fall back, how can I love you?
The light fell across his face, and the wind carried his voice to my ears... An eighteen-year-old boy dared to say forever.
May Jiang Cixin and Chen Cinian always be happy together.
A slow-paced story, happy ending, no pseudo-incest, he’s only staying with the family.
Jiang Cixin x Chen Cinian
Side couple: Liang Jiaxu x Zheng Mingming
A note about the blurb: The story begins when they’re children. Jiang Cixin was born on May 24, 1999, and Chen Cinian on September 20, 2000. It’s going to be a very, very slow burn, and I don’t even know what it’ll turn out like.
The book has roughly five parts: Spring Awakening covers their childhood in elementary school, Summer Growth covers middle school, Autumn Harvest covers high school, Winter Storing covers the end of high school, and Spring Returns combines the ending with the extra chapters.
(Cover commissioned from the artist dy Chun Yao.)
Theme: May we all be brave.
