Expired Ginger Tea

be/When the person I secretly love loves me too

In the eyes of her classmates at No. 7 High School, Zhou Miaoge is solitary, sensitive, and fragile.

When the students in her second year of high school were divided into arts and sciences classes, no one wanted to sit with her.

Her period came at just the wrong time. She curled up in a secluded corner, covered in cold sweat from the pain.

In her chaotic world, she suddenly heard someone sit down beside her and hand her a packet of brown sugar and ginger tea.

Jiang Shu, in his school uniform and with a clean-cut air, had come to sit beside her.

He said nothing, simply keeping her company in silence.

-

Graduation season arrived in the rainy height of summer. She called out to Jiang Shu on the sports field, her heart racing, with a confession on the tip of her tongue.

Jiang Shu told her to wait a moment.

From daylight to dark, from clear skies to rain, she waited and waited, but the boy never appeared.

Half a month later, she heard that he had gone abroad to study.

Perhaps he had done it this way to spare her as much embarrassment as possible.

Zhou Miaoge smiled at herself in self-mockery.

After all, being rejected after a confession would be a terrible blow to a sensitive, fragile girl.

-

Four years later, Zhou Miaoge received a letter from Jiang Shu

"The boy should be the one to confess his feelings first..."

"When we first met, I gave you a packet of ginger tea. Now I'm sending you ginger tea with this letter. Will you be my girlfriend?"

The paper had yellowed, and a packet of ginger tea was tucked inside.

Its expiration date was that rainy summer.

*Bad ending / mutual unrequited love

*Sensitive girl x terminally ill boy

March 24, 2022 / archived on Weibo

Theme: Cherish those who are with you now