A Stingy Rose [Bad Ending]

*In the photo, she's wearing a qipao, while he holds a paper umbrella, one shoulder of his coat soaked through. It's the only photo they have, so she treasures it.

Song Jinci first saw Gu Hezhou at the mobilization ceremony. From far away, she looked up at him on the stage. Her sponsor had a gentle expression and a calm bearing, just like his handwriting.

"The road ahead is long and difficult, but if you keep going, you'll get there." He repeated the words he'd once shared with her. "I wish all the examinees success in the college entrance exams and a bright future."

Later, as her studies progressed and she began exploring new relationships, she saw a young man wearing a brown wool coat and thought of Gu Hezhou, who owned one just like it. It looked so much better on Gu Hezhou.

"This one won't do," Gu Hezhou said in a frantic phone call. "He was already married during college. He's no better than... no better than that Zheng Yi."

"Gu Hezhou," she finally couldn't take it anymore. Gripping his neat collar, she made him bend down to meet her eyes. "If you don't like me, what gives you the right to meddle in my life?"

She couldn't understand why he pushed her away even though his ears had turned red. She wanted to ask him to wait a little longer, just as she had so many times before. She would repay him for all his kind help.

But he kept retreating, again and again. He was generous with everyone else, but stingy with her alone. He'd given her baby's breath for ten years, yet wouldn't even give her a single rose.

Years later, she could bring him up with a casual smile. She said Mr. Gu could be generous, but sometimes he was terribly stingy. Others thought she was joking. After all, Mr. Gu was a renowned philanthropist.

"Gu Hezhou has a hard heart," she said with a lowered gaze and a smile.

She didn't know that Gu Hezhou had long ago seen how much she wanted that rose. So the roses in Linzhou bloomed all across the city, year after year, from their first bloom until they withered. But that was as far as he ever went.

Theme: The road ahead is long and difficult, but if you keep going, you'll get there