Spring Morning

A small town on the outskirts of City C is quaint and peaceful.

Moss creeps over the crooked stone-paved lanes.

After the rain, droplets like broken diamonds hang from the tiled eaves.

The sky and sea lie silent, vast and boundless.

Nan Zhixu comes to the town to clear her mind.

The owner of the guesthouse is a woman of few words,

cold as a stone monument carved with Buddhist scriptures in a temple.

Yet the scriptures are clear, and the monument melts into water.

During an argument in which she takes out her anger on the other woman, Nan Zhixu glimpses the other's flushed eyes

and understands the inscription.

*

Ji Shu accepts a damp invitation.

A dazzling spray of flowers bursts boldly into her spring.

Spring rain boils and burns, leaving the icy stone flushed.

*

Spring passes and summer arrives, the rising sun steaming away the spring rain.

On the day she leaves, Nan Zhixu decisively deletes every way to contact Ji Shu.

Confident in her rationality, proud and self-assured,

she believes she can let go of this absurdity hidden in spring.

Until months later, at a bustling fan meet-and-greet,

a tall woman in a mask and hat stops at her table and hands her a photo.

An early spring morning, gentle light and shadow.

A string of pale green beads on the woman's wrist taps softly, its clear sound striking Nan Zhixu's heart.

"Goodbye." The woman turns and walks away.

Nan Zhixu abruptly stands and chases after her, heedless of the startled cries around her.

The wind rushing past as she runs shatters her self-deception.

A little bonus scene:

During a livestream, Nan Zhixu casually mentions the author Peipai.

The ship fans boldly speak up in the comments.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening comes through the livestream.

"Why did you eat my little cake?"

A distinctive, highly recognizable voice, soft and magnetic,

but the question is full of tender grievance.

Nan Zhixu sees the woman's reddened eyes and frantically clicks the mouse to turn off her mic, but hits mute instead.

The livestream viewers are forced to listen to an elaborate scene of someone being coaxed.

The woman, usually warm and reserved in her interactions, apologizes in a meek voice, pouting and flirting.

At long last, she manages to soothe the other woman, then returns to her seat and finds the livestream comments filling the whole screen.

After the livestream ends, the two post updates on Weibo at the same time.

Xu Wo Pa Huai V: @Nan Zhixu, I ask if the southern branch has bloomed?

Nan Zhixu V: @Xu Wo Pa Huai, I'll let you wander.

"How do you love me?"

"The sunshine, the wind, the rain, this whole earth. I love you everywhere."

· Healing story | Self-reinvention | Cool, elegant voice actress x "socially anxious" small-town landlady

Theme: Spring will eventually melt the walls of ice.