Many years later, on a rainy night, Xu Qiubai saw Lin Qingnan again.
By then, he had transformed himself from the humiliated boy who once depended on others for a place to live into an award-winning actor adored by everyone.
They met each other's eyes. He seemed to have completely forgotten her. His gaze was as calm as ever, without a hint of emotion, and his voice was steady.
"Hello, Ms. Xu."
Polite, distant.
As though this really were their first meeting.
That is, until a banquet.
When people started gossiping about Xu Qiubai's past, she didn't look at him. She only smiled faintly and said, "It's all in the past. It doesn't matter."
Lin Qingnan stood in a shadowy corner, his fingertips gripping his wineglass until they turned white.
The music began. He watched her dance with her blind date, her skirt swirling, her smile bright.
To hell with taking things slow. Lin Qingnan couldn't hold back any longer.
He strode over and, in full view of everyone, pulled her into his arms.
His wineglass hit the floor.
He cornered her on the terrace. In the torrential rain, they were both drenched through.
His fingertips roamed over her skin. Looking at that familiar face, he could no longer control himself and pulled her tightly into his arms.
She struggled and shouted, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. "Lin Qingnan, you're insane."
Rain ran from his hair into his eyes. His Adam's apple bobbed as he gazed deeply at her, the corners of his eyes red.
"Xu Qiubai, we spent all these years apart because I wasn't crazy enough."
"If I really were crazy, I would have successfully proposed to you the day you left without a word five years ago."
-
On a rainy summer evening when she was sixteen, Xu Qiubai, who was blind, lost her way in the pouring rain. She fell, covered in mud and utterly miserable.
Just as she was about to despair, an umbrella appeared above her, and a coat smelling of pine was draped over her shoulders.
A clear voice asked, "Are you all right?"
Her cool fingertips touched a warm palm, and he clasped her hand tightly.
In that instant, her breath caught. It was as though she had grasped a faint glimmer of light hanging down from fate.
Xu Qiubai met Lin Qingnan.
Later, a family crisis forced him to move in with her, where he helped care for her until her sight returned.
Only then did she discover that the person who had soothed all her anxieties when she was blind was nothing like the gentle, considerate person she had imagined.
Beneath his calm, gentle exterior, he was obsessive and unhinged, with countless secrets.
She thought their relationship had been nothing but an act, a performance he put on to use her.
But she didn't know that seven years spent together, day in and day out, had planted a seed in his heart.
During the five years they were apart, it grew wildly in his longing, becoming an everlasting spring in his life, named after her.
--
Most people in this world are lonely. So am I.
But I am also lucky.
Because I was once loved by her with all her heart, passionately and sincerely.
And I am grateful that she still loves me now.
-- Lin Qingnan, posted on Weibo
[Reader's Guide]
1. One-on-one romance, both leads' first time, happy ending.
2. Their breakup was caused by a misunderstanding. Both leads are wonderful people.
3. The story opens with their reunion. Scenes from the past are sprinkled throughout the chapters, though not in every chapter. Important events may need further explanation later, so there may be one or two consecutive chapters set in the past.
4. The heroine has no romantic feelings for the second male lead. They are purely collaborators.
5. Both leads are adults whenever they are together, both before and after the main story begins.
6. This is the same type of story as The Magic Mirror Never Lies in the author's collection: rekindled romance, mutual healing.
Theme: Love can break into any prison in the world.
