After This Rain Lets Up

Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage top x Western Art bottom

A rainstorm stranded Chen Qinglan in Jingdezhen.

He walked into the only ceramics shop in town that was still open.

It was quiet inside. When he opened the door, a pleasant male voice greeted him.

"This is a private courtyard. We don't serve customers."

The words kept him at arm's length.

Chen Qinglan silently glanced at the few tiny words crammed into the corner of the wooden sign outside:

Ceramics for sale, DIY experiences.

Deep inside the shop, someone was intently polishing a piece of pottery, without even looking at him.

Putting on airs, Chen Qinglan thought.

"I'll leave when the rain lets up," he explained.

.

Chen Qinglan stayed in Jingdezhen. He and Yu Jingzhou, the ceramics shop owner, were opposites in every way, and they bickered whenever they met.

One weekend, Chen Qinglan deliberately got him drunk, determined to make him show his true colors.

Instead, Chen Qinglan was the first to get completely wasted.

In the middle of the night, he woke up, flushed with alcohol. The moment he opened his eyes, he sprang upright.

"You, you..."

Before him, Yu Jingzhou's eyes were clouded with desire. His hot breath fanned over Chen Qinglan's ankle. Before Chen Qinglan could react, Yu Jingzhou seized both his hands and pinned them behind his back...

Later, Chen Qinglan told a friend what had happened. To his surprise, the other man wasn't shocked.

"There's something I think you need to know," his friend said.

"What?"

"Yu Jingzhou is gay."

Theme: Fate is a torrential downpour you can't avoid.