The marriage between Zhou Songyi and Jin Yanli has sex but no love. Since the wedding, they've treated each other with polite respect.
Then one rainy day, she returns from a dinner gathering attended by her ex-boyfriend, and the balance they've maintained finally breaks.
That day, lightning flashed and thunder roared outside the window.
Jin Yanli pins Zhou Songyi to the bed and slowly tugs at the belt of her bathrobe. His hand is trembling, and his eyes are red.
“Please let me go,” she says, terrified, tears streaming uncontrollably. “I don't like you.”
“Let you go?” He slips his fingertip into her mouth, smiling with impeccable composure as he slowly stirs it. “Who's going to let me go?”
*
One spring after their wedding, they are still in the mandatory cooling-off period before their divorce.
Zhou Songyi receives a gift and a letter from Jin Yanli, who is away on a business trip in Nanjing, along with a begonia blossom that has yet to wilt.
She unfolds the letter.
The handwriting is strong and forceful, just like the man himself.
Songyi:
“My work in Nanjing is nearly finished. I should be back in Beijing the day after tomorrow. The courtyard outside my hotel is full of blooming begonias. After finishing work, my colleagues invited me to take a walk with them. But I couldn't help wishing you were here...”
Zhou Songyi slowly folds the letter and puts it away. She picks up the begonia, its faint fragrance still lingering, and places it in the vase on the coffee table before calling him.
Rain patters outside the window.
She says softly, “It's raining in Beijing. Remember to put on an extra layer on your way back.”
*
In the winter of 2008, Zhou Songyi once wrote a note in pencil on a ten-yuan bill:
How many people's hands will this bill pass through? How many cities will it drift across? It really makes me curious.
December 20, 2008
Zhou Songyi, Beijing
Twelve years later, after all the twists and turns, the bill finds its way back to her, carrying a love story with it.
“At four in the morning, the begonias are still awake. I can't help thinking you should be by my side right now.”
Meaning:
I miss you.
Reader's guide:
Slow burn.
A little melodramatic.
Marriage before love / love after divorce / possessive pursuit
Sickly little thing × gentlemanly scoundrel
“At four in the morning, the begonias are still awake. I can't help thinking you should be by my side right now.” From Kawabata Yasunari's The Begonias Are Awake.
Upcoming novel: A Melon Forced Off the Vine Is the Sweetest
As a student, Song Zhi fell in love with a poor boy. A rich young lady who had never lifted a finger for herself, she bent her pride for love for the first time.
To get closer to Yu Huaizhou, she washed dishes at a restaurant just to talk to him more and grow closer.
Even so, the young man looked at her coldly, distant and aloof. “This isn't a place for you.”
Then disaster struck. Yu Huaizhou's mother was in a car accident and needed a fortune for medical treatment. The young man swallowed his pride, but still couldn't raise enough money.
Song Zhi handed him all her spending money. His eyes were red, but full of disgust. “What do you want in return?”
“I want you to be my boyfriend. I want you to marry me someday.”
*
One stormy night after they are married, their car breaks down on a mountain road. With no hope of an answer, she calls Yu Huaizhou.
He arrives quickly.
In the pitch-dark night, rain pours down as Yu Huaizhou holds up an umbrella with his long, bony fingers and bends to check the car. Rain runs along his taut jaw.
“The engine's broken. I'll have a tow truck take it to the shop tomorrow. The puddles up ahead are too deep.”
“Get down. I'll carry you across.”
After ten years of unchanging coldness and a love that went only one way, a forced relationship can never be sweet.
All the grievances she'd held in for years erupt at once. “Yu Huaizhou, let's get divorced.”
*
Yu Huaizhou has only ever had two wishes in his life.
First, that his mother be healthy. Second, that Song Zhi be happy.
In his poor and difficult youth, he could only hide his love in his heart. She deserved someone better to love her.
His love was restrained, but the moment she mentioned leaving, it all came crashing down.
“You were the one who started this. Now that you've drawn me in, don't think you can let go for the rest of your life.”
Everyone says he's a mad dog, but Song Zhi doesn't know.
“Song Zhi,” he grips her chin and holds her captive in his arms. “Don't stop loving me.”
Theme: The essence of love is being seen.
So Xiaoyi and Jin always have two children? [EYE][EYE][EYE]
Forgive me for only buying a few chapters. I gave up before, but recently I decided to take a look at the ending. Because the role of the second male lead was too advanced after joining V, Dada and I actually had some differences. It is normal for the male lead and the female lead to not be perfect people, but the emotional line is really messed up. The second male lead takes up too much love. I think the male and female protagonists are also very sour in the back, and there is not much love (there is very little about love, and the proportion of the love line is reversed). It can only be said to be another way of falling. Best wishes. [Orange candy]
What! I bought the extra and had a sterilization, but what are the results?
Ah ah ah, why is it broken here? Please update.
Actually, I didn't understand why the male protagonist fell in love with the female protagonist at first. Maybe it was the so-called love at first sight. Now it seems that the male protagonist loves the female protagonist very much. You can feel it just by reading these words. I beg the author to let them recognize their hearts quickly and clear up the misunderstanding. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeee
It can't be be, ahhhhhhh, no, no
To be honest, I have read novels for so many years. Most of the ones I read in the early days were BE. I was still young at that time, but I could empathize with it. It was as if I had experienced it myself. Although I had never been in love, I was like a mature adult. Through words, I had already felt the sadness of love. Later, when I grew up, I no longer watched BE, but only HE. Maybe I watched too much when I first got into the trap, or maybe I couldn't bear it anymore. Later, I was no longer satisfied, and I was not even willing to pry into letting them enjoy their old age. In my opinion, this was not be.
I didn't expect there would be a side story, woo woo hoo, Happy New Year's Day
So what was written in that letter? This hole has not been filled yet.
So the two of them were reborn together?