Springtime in the Eighties Apartment Block [Period]

Visit the author's profile to request a title: Eighties Couple in a Secret Marriage, Nine Lives as a Human, The Long Night Ends in Dye

Blurb:

The story begins in 1986.

Meng Chunjing lives in a workers' tenement, while Ren Pingsheng lives in the family compound, barely a hundred meters away.

Meng Chunjing is carefree and bold, while Ren Pingsheng is courteous, restrained, and as gentle as jade. Their personalities are worlds apart.

But at some point, Ren Pingsheng starts showing up in Meng Chunjing's life again and again, "educating" her in every way...

Life is full of crossroads. Meng Chunjing will never know that without Ren Pingsheng, she would have broken her wings at one of those crossroads, drifting through life in a daze, unable to soar.

He saved her, and helped her become who she was meant to be.

The story moves into the 1990s.

"I'll bet you anything Meng Chunjing likes you."

"Why?"

"Because she treats you differently from other men."

"Does she?"

"Of course. She's been different since you were kids..."

"Impossible. She was too young to know about that stuff."

"Think about it carefully.

This is how Meng Chunjing treats other boys:

'Let me hear you say that again and I'll knock your front teeth out!'

'It's fun to beat you up! How about I do it every day?'

But what about you? Think about that."

Ren Pingsheng furrowed his brows and fell into thought.

He remembered that summer in eighth grade, when Meng Chunjing had told him:

"You're the idiot! A big idiot! The biggest, most idiotic idiot! I can't stand you!"

He also remembered what she had said before he went abroad:

"Then go if you want. I've been sick of you for ages!"

Ren Pingsheng sighed deeply. "Maybe she doesn't like me..."

Later,

Ren Pingsheng asked Meng Chunjing, "Did you really hate me back then?"

Meng Chunjing stared at him in disbelief. After a long while, she said, "Ren Pingsheng, you really are a big idiot."

"..."

Between the cracks of time,

Ren Pingsheng opened Meng Chunjing's diary and found this passage:

A workers' tenement and a family compound, ordinary sights in the eighties and nineties.

Rice, oil, salt, and family chatter: the ordinary life I remember.

Those days are gone, carried away by time, yet they fill me with warmth. I wish I could go back...

Theme: There is true affection in this world