Li Xing's Forest

Zhou Jingsheng is thirty this year, single and getting on in years, but still open to being flirted with.

That may be what he says, but when a younger guy with puppy-dog eyes confessed to him, he still backed down.

Seven years ago, someone taught him how to love, and also taught him how to hate.

He drank. He kept busy. He chose to fill every moment with anything that could wear him out, until the pain subsided, until... he forgot.

Until he saw Li Xing again.

Love and hate, buried deep in his bones, suddenly surged back. Only then did Zhou Jingsheng realize he had never forgotten this man.

Seven years after their breakup, after all that time apart, the years of falling in love and fighting endlessly still felt as if they had happened yesterday.

Zhou Jingsheng: What, things didn't work out abroad, so you came home to relive the past?

Li Xing smiled calmly. What, does this land have your name on it? Am I not allowed to enter the country?

Seeing each other again after all these years, Zhou Jingsheng still fell apart completely.

Zhou Jingsheng thought he had long since forgotten, until the silhouette beneath that baseball cap appeared in the bar's dim, amber light.

Seven years had turned into a half-hidden lotus on his collarbone, trembling softly with every breath.

Too many words left unsaid stood between them: a cat growing old, a WeChat profile picture never changed, and a farewell cut short all those years ago.

As the mist of the past slowly clears, who is running away? Who is waiting?

This is a forest called Li Xing: damp, secretive, and growing with every unfulfilled promise.

A few reflections on growing up, finding yourself, love, and life...

Broken up and reunited, with perhaps a somewhat unhealthy love.

Gentle Zhou Jingsheng vs. conflicted Li Xing

Happy ending, no angst.

Theme: Those who are destined to meet will meet again.