On the thirty-seventh day of setting up his stall in Lihua Alley, a little girl ran up to Shi Yao's stall. Holding up a hundred-yuan bill, she pointed to the candied hawthorns in the glass case and told him, “Uncle, I want this.”
A child that young couldn't have come out alone. Just as Shi Yao was about to look down the alley in both directions, a tall figure stopped in front of his glass display case.
“Yaoyao, you can only have one small one.”
Through the glass, their eyes met.
Cheng Lanye smiled. “What a coincidence. There's another Yao Yao here.”
After a long time, Shi Yao went to see the doctor again.
“Doctor Li, I think my illness has come back.” His head hung low, his fringe swaying over his forehead. It took him a long time to speak again. “I've been dreaming a lot lately.”
“What have you been dreaming about?”
“I dream about... so many mountains. I can't find my way out... Someone calls my name.”
“All right. Those are things from the past.”
“I... also saw someone.”
“He... seems to be doing well. I think he's married, and he has a daughter.”
“You saw him in a dream?”
“No.” He suddenly lifted his head, his gaze utterly resolute. “It wasn't a dream. I really saw him, with my own eyes. It absolutely wasn't a dream!”
He asked urgently, “Doctor Li, you believe me, right? It really wasn't a dream!”
“I believe you, Shi Yao.” Doctor Li told him, “Because you've recovered.”
An outwardly flippant but deeply devoted and restrained top x an outwardly fragile and broken but truly strong and brave bottom
Theme: Face your pain and live bravely.
