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At seventeen, Yuan Yezhen went through the darkest year of her life.
One day after school, feeling utterly hopeless, she didn't go home. Instead, she walked into a noodle shop.
A group of giggling girls came in and glared at her with ill intent from the doorway.
Her shoulders trembled. A boy who suddenly sat down beside her grabbed her wrist and held it still. "Eat your food."
The boy kept watch at the pool hall next to the noodle shop and also worked part-time as a boxer.
The first time he got hit because he was distracted in the ring, it was because the girl had appeared below it.
From then on, she was always following him, as if hiding behind him meant she no longer had to fear anything.
Chen Sheng thought that rather than keep protecting her, he should teach her to use her own fists to protect herself.
So from that day on, he truly brought her into his world.
Later, as Yuan Yezhen sat in a spacious lecture hall at university, whenever her literature professor spoke of home, her thoughts would drift to the little town thousands of miles away.
The stuffy, damp basement, the shabby boxing ring, the clothes stained with bitter tears, and Chen Sheng, drenched in sweat, backing her into a cramped corner and whispering against her earlobe: "Fight for your life."
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In her third year of college, Chen Sheng came to see her at school.
He was wearing his best clothes, yet still looked completely out of place among the students around them.
"Who's that?"
He grinned and leaned carelessly against a tree, answering before she could. "She's my cousin. She's from the countryside."
"Why didn't you say I was your girlfriend?" On the way back to the hotel, she walked ahead with her head down, angry, while he trailed behind her with his usual careless swagger.
Though they were only two steps apart, it felt as if an endless ocean lay between them.
He said nothing, only smiled. The moment they entered the room, he eagerly pinned her against the door and asked, "Want to?"
"Let's pretend this is our last time."
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A funeral brought high schooler Yuan Yezhen into the life of Chen Sheng, a young man from the streets.
Thus began a lifetime of entanglement between them.
Street punk / professional boxer vs. small-town girl / sports reporter
#HeadingTowardSpring
Theme: Fight for your life
