● Kesi silk craft inheritor vs. guiding older screenwriter
● A not-quite-mended broken relationship rekindled
Blurb:
Cen An saw Nan Zhi again four years later, in a small village far from the old town.
Miao Li, who had come along, turned over the bracelet she'd just bought, sighing that the bracelets in this corner of the village, priced at two or three hundred, were better-made and more tasteful than the ones at tourist attractions that cost two or three thousand. She also praised the shopkeeper for being young, pretty, witty, and funny, then sighed over the long scar on her neck, wondering how she'd survived whatever happened back then.
Cen An's fingers trembled slightly, and her spoon clinked against her coffee cup. "The scar's on the left? Near her shoulder? She doesn't like covering it up?"
Miao Li stared at her in amazement. "What are you, a fortune-teller? Can you see the future? Hey! Where are you going?!"
Miao Li caught up with Cen An outside the bracelet shop. A clatter came from inside, and the beads on the shopkeeper's tray spilled all over the floor.
Her childhood friend, who Miao Li had never seen cry, tilted her head and let out a laugh. Eyes red, she walked toward the person inside. "I thought you were going to hide from me for the rest of your life."
Nan Zhi: "...I wasn't hiding."
"If you weren't hiding, then have dinner with me," Cen An said, holding out her phone. "And save your phone number, WeChat, email, and home address while you're at it."
Nan Zhi: "..."
By the roadside after dinner, Miao Li crossed her arms. "You know each other, and you're more than just acquaintances."
Cen An glanced toward the cashier's counter and said, "We are more than that."
Miao Li: "How much more?"
Cen An: "We never made it official, but we did everything else. We were in that kind of situationship."
"Oh, I..." Miao Li looked at her childhood friend's shameless, heartbreaker face and lowered her voice. "Did you dump her?"
"I was the one who got dumped."
"Oh, I... You got dumped, but you're still the one chasing after her number? You really loved her, huh?"
"Take out the word 'loved.'"
"Oh, I... It's been four years since you got dumped, and you're still in love?"
Cen An smiled without denying it. "I saw her in a dream yesterday."
Back in their early twenties, she was stubborn and reserved. Even when she cried, she'd hide by the river, or wait until she was in a room with the lights off. All you could hear was her soft, uneven breathing.
Theme: Even with broken wings, you can still soar.
