Tan Shushu had a mother who never cared for her and a father who never raised her. She was only brought back to the Tan family shortly before she came of age. She was beautiful, flamboyant, willful, and full of faults.
Jiang Chirang, the eldest son of the Jiang family, was thirty and unmarried. A Harvard graduate, he was as elegant as a fine orchid and jade, gentle and refined. His greatest pleasure was reading books and savoring tea.
The two of them could hardly have been more different.
Everyone thought Jiang Chirang was merely putting up with her, and that divorce was only a matter of time.
At first, Tan Shushu thought so too.
That is, until two male classmates got into a fight over her, and Jiang Chirang was summoned in his role as her "guardian" to the dean's office at A University's School of Law.
One of the students took Tan Shushu's hand with an adoring look and declared his love for her in front of Jiang Chirang, her "guardian."
Jiang Chirang was silent for a moment, then walked over and pulled Tan Shushu behind him.
He looked at the student and said, "Do you think you're allowed to touch my wife's hand?"
-
That night, Tan Shushu was summoned downstairs from her hiding place in the study.
Jiang Chirang set down his newspaper and looked at her coolly.
His stare made her skin crawl, so Tan Shushu rushed to speak first. "Jiang Chirang, listen to me. About what happened..."
Jiang Chirang pulled her into his arms in one swift motion, burying his face against her snowy-white shoulder and neck. He took a greedy breath, struggling with all his might to rein in his irrational, unrestrained feelings.
Forced to sit on his lap, Tan Shushu was at a loss. Then she heard him scoff. "What's so great about some wet-behind-the-ears brat?"
-
Tan Shushu had always thought that she was a joke in everyone's eyes. Later, she realized that in Jiang Chirang's eyes, she was a one-of-a-kind black rose.
Jiang Chirang would rather leave the thorns alone and let them wound his hands than take away a single thing from the rose's true form.
He said, "In my barren land, you are the last rose."
Tan Shushu remembered those words for the rest of her life.
In my barren land, you are the last rose. - Pablo Neruda
2023.5.21
Theme: The world is full of love
