In the alleyways, gossip can travel from one end to the other, and a smiling mouth can be a sharp dagger.
Joy and sorrow, parting and reunion, all play out on people's lips.
Shen Jiamiao grew up amid all that noise.
The first time she saw He Shu,
the boy stood quietly beside a seafood stall reeking of the sea, as if he didn't belong in that cramped little place at all.
The breeze stirred the hem of his shirt, and unsettled Shen Jiamiao's heart.
When the school building lost power, she slipped past Class Ten amid the confusion.
Quietly, she placed an apple on He Shu's desk.
By the time the ancient banyan tree in the alley was covered with wish tags for success in the imperial exams,
Shen Jiamiao had left the alley, just as she'd hoped.
“He Shu, want to leave together?”
“Shen Jiamiao, I can't go to Beijing.”
That summer, He Shu began to hate apples.
Theme: Love yourself before loving others.
