Name Spell

"When you forget someone, do you forget their voice first, or their face?"

1.

Beiyan High School, in an old, dimly lit washroom.

Outside, torrential rain poured down. Sui Miqing was covered in mud, her fingers red with cold and trembling as she reached for water.

Suddenly, someone shoved a cup in front of her. A boy pushed Sui Miqing aside.

"Get in line!" a deep, commanding voice rang out.

The boy was tall and long-legged, hands in his pockets as he leaned casually against the door. He was aloof and rebellious, free-spirited and imposing enough to make people nervous.

The boy who had cut in meekly took his cup to the back of the line.

Sui Miqing glanced up, caught in a pair of sharp, clear eyes, then quickly looked away.

She turned on the tap. As the cup filled with hot water, warmth returned to her hands. Steam rose and dampened her eyelashes. She didn't dare turn around again, but she knew who the boy was.

Sui Miqing shifted her mud-soaked cloth shoes almost imperceptibly and turned herself slightly toward him.

2.

Xi Nanzhan was Beiyan High School's golden boy, the center of attention. His family was influential and his grades were outstanding. Sui Miqing knew they were worlds apart.

One was a dazzling golden boy. The other was so ordinary she wouldn't make a ripple if she were tossed into a lake, utterly forgettable, dull, and mediocre.

The day Sui Miqing finally worked hard enough to catch up with Xi Nanzhan's grades, she summoned the courage to look at him.

"Isn't that the girl in the cloth shoes you helped out that day? She's caught up with you in the rankings," his friend said, patting his shoulder and pointing her out.

Xi Nanzhan glanced over indifferently, not giving it a second thought.

Sui Miqing admitted that she really was pathetic. Even the only photo of the two of them, she had carefully covered with a mosaic.

Her secret, hopeless crush, hidden from everyone and kept out of the light, was destined to turn black and rot in the soil of youth, ending without a word and turning to ashes.

Only on graduation day did Sui Miqing dare to write in secret: May you continue to shine brightly in the years ahead.

3.

After that, Sui Miqing reminded herself countless times that life was long, and she shouldn't keep looking back.

She tried hard to forget someone's name. If she forgot his name, surely she would really forget him.

His photo, the only one she had of him, was nothing but a blurry mosaic.

Sui Miqing never thought she would see him again in this life.

At their class reunion, the man sat among the crowd in an expensive suit, aloof and cold.

Someone somehow dug up an old photo and passed it around. In it, Sui Miqing stood beside a human-shaped mosaic. Someone mocked her: "So you had a secret crush on someone?"

Wanting to embarrass Sui Miqing, the person turned to Xi Nanzhan, the most successful person there, and asked, "Everyone's been wondering. Is that you under the mosaic?"

Sui Miqing froze, so tense she forgot to breathe.

"No." The man was refined and elegant. He lowered his eyes to glance at the photo and denied it without changing his expression.

Sui Miqing let out a huge sigh of relief.

After the banquet, in the empty pantry, the young man cast his shadow over Sui Miqing and slowly asked, "You like me that much?"

Sui Miqing pretended not to understand. "What?"

He gave a mocking laugh, the corners of his lips curling as amusement glinted in his eyes. "How can you deny it when the person you mosaicked is standing right here?"

Sui Miqing's lips trembled. Flustered, she blurted out, "How did you know?"

She was stunned. She'd put such a thick, heavy mosaic over it back then. There was no way anyone could have figured it out. Absolutely no way!

The man stared straight at her for a while, then suddenly bent down, his thin lips almost brushing her ear. A tingling sensation crept through Sui Miqing's body.

"Because when you took the photo..."

He paused, his voice low and beguiling.

"I wasn't asleep at all."

The man walked a few steps away, then turned back as if remembering something. "Sui Miqing, stop sneaking around. Next time, let me be in the picture openly, okay?"

"Tell me, in the long river of time, are we like someone carving a mark on a moving boat to find a lost sword, unable to let go, or have we already forgotten each other?"

A name is the smallest of spells, and the longest of sutras.

Song Fangjin

■ Note:

1. [Rebellious, arrogant golden boy × sensitive, insecure, well-behaved girl]

2. Secret crush from the heroine's perspective, turning into mutual love / reunion after years apart

3. School years followed by city life

4. Both leads are each other's first and only partners. 1v1, happy ending.

5. Cover art assets courtesy of Die Anyeshui and Lin Moyu.

(Blurb archived: 2025.2.16)

Theme: Stay young forever! Keep your eyes forever brimming with tears!