Rain Between the Brows

The first time Xu Youning saw Xin Chen, she was sitting in a wheelchair.

The boy was tall and thin as a bamboo stalk. The bulging snakeskin bag in his hand looked as if it could easily snap his straight back.

Xu Youning still hadn't recovered from the disaster that had destroyed her life. Her face was pale as paper, and her eyes seemed to come from a snowline eight thousand miles away.

When her mother said, "You'll be going to school together from now on," she turned away indifferently.

Later,

when Xu Youning looked back on that year, all she remembered was the boy's rough palm steadying her again and again, so dependable that she could almost believe he could carry her through the rest of her life.

"I thought the rainy season would eventually pass, but the rain that fell into my heart that year kept me damp for the rest of my life."

# First-person narration in the main story, tragic ending. Third-person narration in the extras, open ending, leaning toward a happy ending.

# Short story, serialized free of charge.

The title comes from "If rain settles between the brows, secrets grow into trees" from Chen Hongyu's "Dreamland."

Core Theme: Personal growth