During the scorching summer when he was fourteen, Xu Chi first saw Su Zhinian in an old alleyway, amid the constant chirping of cicadas. She was dressed like a doll.
The little girl was only seven. She timidly followed the adults, and when she saw him, she hurriedly ducked back.
The next time they met, she was surrounded by a group of children nearly as tall as she was. Her pretty princess braids had come loose, and the ribbons were stained with dirt.
He sternly chased off the brats who were bullying her, but she didn't even thank him. She simply turned and ran away too.
The third time, the little girl was struggling to carry a woven grass basket of fruit. She knocked on the door of Granny Zhang, the deaf-mute woman who lived across from Xu Chi. He watched as she raised her hands and signed something, a bright, healing smile on her lips like the April sunshine.
After years apart, Xu Chi saw Su Zhinian again when he was twenty-seven. The girl had shed her childish innocence and blossomed into a young woman.
But Xu Chi didn't know that Su Zhinian had traced his name over and over, on paper and in her heart, throughout all those lonely, unnoticed years...
"Some affections have been heard by the wind, so I want you to know, too."
Gentle big brother x sweet, well-behaved little girl
A secret crush comes true
The characters are young in the early chapters, with no romance. The heroine had a period of mutism as a child due to psychological reasons.
Maybe you could also check out my other upcoming story? /shy
Theme: Love is an eternal question, wiser than mathematics
