Since childhood, Yu Li had always been called "that fishmonger's daughter." One afternoon, she helped her father deliver fish to a teahouse on the main street.
The teahouse owner wore gold-rimmed glasses and a dark blue silk robe. He casually asked her name, and she said she was called Yu Li.
Through the wafting aroma of tea, he examined her with interest.
At last, the man handed her a jade pendant about half the size of her palm and said, "This jade has a connection with you. It's yours."
Yu Li stared blankly at the cool white jade in her hand. At its center was a lifelike red carp leaping out of the water.
They met again five years later. By then, Yu Li had become a successful private chef and restaurant owner, establishing herself in the industry with her signature dish, "Red Carp in the River."
The young man who once spent his days looking gloomy in the teahouse had become a renowned jade carver in the country.
At a banquet hosted by a magazine, Yu Li stood in a corner, uninterested, when she saw the host on the screen introducing a work by a famous jade carver: "Twin Carp," soon to be exhibited in C City.
She had no interest in watching and hurried out of the venue, but the man stopped her with a hand.
With great gentleness, yet leaving no room for refusal, he placed a jade pendant in Yu Li's palm.
"I promised you this five years ago. I haven't gone back on my word."
The pendant in her hand depicted two carp intertwined. Yu Li tossed it back into the man's arms, then turned away, secretly blinking back tears.
Core theme: Cherish the present
