Freak Wave [Mystery]

Before me lies an ordinary freight agreement. The legal representative is listed as "Cheng Fengzhou."

That name hasn't appeared in a long time. Or rather, for an even longer stretch of time, it was replaced by "Ruan Shizheng."

The gates of memory are slammed open. The good and the bad, the moving and the cruel, come crashing in like enormous waves, catching him completely off guard.

Jiang Chao's mother knows he's going to look for Ruan Shizheng. "If he's avoiding you, just let him. Why insist on making everyone miserable?"

Jiang Chao: "Why should I care whether everyone else is happy?"

He floors it and drives hundreds of kilometers to Ruohe.

He walks into the building marked Changshuo Shipping, calmly glances at the floor directory, then suddenly feels the damp air around him grow heavy and still. He can barely breathe.

Inside the company, the lights in the lounge are on, like a spotlight on a stage. All the light gathers there, making everything clear and all the more dramatic: Ruan Shizheng sits expressionless on the sofa, wearing work clothes smeared with engine oil.

Time seems to stop, then quickly runs backward.

"How long have you been doing this job?"

"Dr. Jiang, I only need a record of my treatment here. But there's no way I'm going to talk."

"Are you hungry, kid? Uncle will buy you something to eat."

"Eric's self-harming behavior has been gone for three months. I think he's ready to go back to school."

"Cousin, when did you start having feelings for me? Was I even eighteen back then?"

"Ruan Shizheng," Jiang Chao finally says. "Long time no see."

"You shouldn't have come to see me."

/

"Do you remember Golden Beach in Ruohe?" Ruan Shizheng asks.

"I do. I also remember you standing by the sea that year, saying you hated me. At the time, I thought it was because I hadn't spent your eighteenth birthday with you. Looking back now... I was too naive."

He hands Jiang Chao a photograph of the two of them at Golden Beach in the past. It was taken by a photographer passing by, and it's their only photo together.

At night, Ruan Shizheng remembers the warmth of Jiang Chao holding him, and the focused way he used to stroke his hair.

As he thinks about it, he starts to draw in shaky breaths. It's as if all the strength has been drained from his body. Unable to sit upright, he sinks limply onto the sofa.

The commemorative coin rests against his chest. His pulse races, pounding hard against his consciousness.

It was the coin Jiang Chao gave him as his therapist to mark three full years of treatment.

Dazed, his thoughts wander through the memories of just moments ago. At last, his tightly furrowed brow relaxes: though a thousand mountains lie between them, perhaps he still has a chance.

Because Jiang Chao accepted the photograph.

[Reading Guide]

1. Both leads are completely faithful to each other. Happy ending.

2. Ruan Shizheng is utterly unhinged.

3. Star-crossed lovers who hate each other: yes. Rekindling an old relationship: yes.

4. The story has a suspenseful undertone, and may give you the feeling of a story full of grand words but no substance.

5. Ruan Shizheng is adopted, not Jiang Chao's biological cousin.

6. P and N lines.

The last novel with this many reading guides flopped terribly, so...

Please give this lonely author a follow.

Theme: Love has no threshold.