A 25-Square-Meter Rental Won't Hold a Love-Hate Romance

Many years later, in the ballroom on the second floor of the Waldorf Hotel, a huge crystal chandelier sparkled brilliantly, its dazzling light almost blinding. Xie Mingyu walked in, her skirt swaying, and immediately spotted the man surrounded by admirers at the center of the room. The lover from her past, who had shared hardship with her but never prosperity. He had matured. His features had grown sharper and unfamiliar. Dressed in a suit, he sat among the guests with a faint, easy smile. But what came to her mind was how young and lost they had been when they first arrived in this city. The tiny, dilapidated apartment they shared was just twenty-five square meters. The toilet and bathroom were shared, and in the mornings they had to race the other tenants to use them. The fennel buns sold by the old woman downstairs were always unpleasant, like something you ate only because it was cheap. She walked at least twenty thousand steps a day working retail in the CBD. No matter how late she finished work, she could always see his tall, lonely figure waiting outside by himself. He saved what little patience he had for her. The urban village was an ugly scar in the midst of the city's splendor. The smell of mold clung to their nostrils like a parasite. Back then, they would often hear trains rumbling past the window in the middle of the night, like monsters. She lay on the bed like a fish stranded on the shore. In their twenty-five-square-meter rental, the bed creaked whenever she turned over. At twenty-three, Xie Mingyu gritted her teeth and thought she hated everything about this place. Except him. How strange. In the end, she had everything, but lost him. "My life had only one grand summer. After that summer, the moon fell from the sky. I have spent every summer since trying to paint that moon, jealous of all it had, yet in love with its gentleness." -- Hermann Hesse * A woman who was unfaithful x a devoted man, rekindled love after a breakup * Former lovers who hit rock bottom reunite at the top Cover by Shushu er Theme: In the end, we all change and grow.