She returned to her hometown to escape the summer heat and turned the girl next door into her future girlfriend.
At seventeen, Cao Hanzhi and Ou Shuyi had the best summer of their lives, with each other.
In the living room upstairs, they took turns drilling through all the material for the college entrance exam.
They explored every corner of the village, bought a new stuffed toy, and Cao Hanzhi met lots of people and grew more outgoing.
Infected by the vitality of the girl who had grown up in the countryside, Cao Hanzhi came alive, too.
When it was time for her to leave for university,
Ou Shuyi kissed her, then asked, "Will you wait for me?"
Cao Hanzhi replied, "I will."
They weren't officially together yet, but they did plenty together: hugging, kissing, and making sure again and again that they loved each other.
During the winter term, they could go on a winter campus recruitment trip, kiss behind an old tree on campus, or even sneak a high school senior out of school to find a day of peace amid the chaos.
A plastic magic door could go with a plane ticket, letting one of them show up in front of the other the very next day.
Cao Hanzhi helped Ou Shuyi predict exam questions, and Ou Shuyi gave her feedback.
Ou Shuyi told her she liked her, and Cao Hanzhi gave her an unequivocal answer.
Ou Shuyi said, "You have to take responsibility for your kite."
Cao Hanzhi said, "The string to my kite is in your hands."
They were three months apart in age, and Cao Hanzhi was a year ahead in school. Both their parents had issues, but Cao Hanzhi didn't need to rely on them. Hand in hand, she and Ou Shuyi could hold up a little world of their own.
She didn't mind Ou Shuyi taking a bite of her popsicle, swimming in the river with her, or spending an entire afternoon helping her reel in a kite, from sunset until dark.
Ou Shuyi said, "I'm so lucky to be with you!"
Cao Hanzhi nodded.
Ou Shuyi added, "And I'm lucky to be with you, too!"
Cao Hanzhi smiled. "Of course you are."
From the flutter of first love at seventeen to making things official at eighteen, they shared two wonderful summers, with peach-flavored popsicles, a tawny stuffed bear, and two acceptance letters from the same city.
And countless "I love yous" on the phone.
Cao Hanzhi thought she had the liveliest, cutest girlfriend in the whole world.
Later, they had the most enviable love in the world. In the city where they settled, they watched the snow fall in great feathery flakes, petted the cat they raised together beside the radiator, picked each other up after work, and shared every little detail of their lives.
At seventeen, twenty-seven, and thirty-seven, they spent year after year by each other's side.
When they were thirty, they sat back to back beside a huge fireplace, writing New Year's cards.
In her New Year's card to Ou Shuyi, Cao Hanzhi wrote:
Thank you for walking beside me from campus into the working world. Thank you for always being there, holding my hand.
And of course, you should thank me, too, for loving you just as much as ever.
I know you'll say, "Of course."
Your love is as bright as your smile, clearer than even my plans for the future.
I will always put my kite string in your hands.
Ou Shuyi turned around and exchanged the card she'd written with hers.
She covered Cao Hanzhi's eyes and read her own card aloud.
Cao Hanzhi listened as she read every word, earnest and full of care.
She said, "I love you so, so much."
She said, "I've lost the virtue of being content. My heart is filled with greed. I only want to be with you forever."
Ou Shuyi kissed her cheek, leaned close to her ear, and whispered with quiet conviction, "I still love you so much. Even more than I did when I was seventeen."
Cao Hanzhi hadn't replied yet.
Ou Shuyi said, "I know you know. Just like you know what I'm going to say."
We're the same.
Cool on the outside, warm within, top student Cao Hanzhi x lively, straightforward younger girl Ou Shuyi
Theme: You are an angel who fell from the sky
