The Walking Fish

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🌫️ & 🐟 She pursues him | Reunion trope 💒 | (Fake) lovers reunited after a breakup 🌋 | A story of healing ✨

*

In western Sichuan, Tan Wu met someone.

He was cool and aloof, like a blue sky.

They went to see the golden sunrise on the mountains together.

On summer nights, in languid, intimate darkness, they held each other and kissed.

It was a trip taken at the lowest point of Tan Wu's life.

-

She saw Xu Weili again at her mother's wedding banquet. Standing in the middle of the hall, she stared at him beside her stepfather, unable to recover for a long time.

Then her mother's words brought her back to herself:

"This is your older brother."

She gave him a sidelong look and said nothing, watching him with amused interest. Her dark eyes grew ever more intense as she fixed her gaze on him. No one knew that on countless nights, they had once made love passionately, lost in each other.

First edition written on 2025.9.7. Archived.

"I love your darkness, your awkwardness, your mistakes

And make our flaws the marks by which we find each other"

"So let's make this promise:

Whether the world is a serious drama or a farce,

We'll give it our all together"

The title is taken from Xu Jiaying's song of the same name, Walking Fish.

*The leads do not take their relationship further while their parents' marriage is still intact.

Archived on 2025.6.29

Next up: Moonlight Breaks the Dawn:

Fated push and pull | A battle of equals | Coming of age | She runs, he pursues | A "saint" with a selfish streak | Clearheaded woman and love-struck man

01

As she grew up, she'd heard all kinds of judgments: mature beyond her years, too rational, too clearheaded, too independent, and not very sociable.

Then he said, "Zhao Liye, you just can't stand being ordinary."

He said, "I hope you'll try taking off your mask when you're with me."

But Zhao Liye never believed anyone could accept the real her.

02

That year, Zhao Liye left without a word.

By the time Ye Congming finished his business trip and hurried home, she was already gone.

Late at night, beneath a mirror-like sky, the lights shone while the walls were cast in shadow.

He stood there for a long time, unusually troubled, yet still dialed the number, not knowing whether she would answer.

"Zhao Liye."

"Yes."

"Zhao Liye, goodbye."

"Goodbye, Ye Congming."

At the time, Zhao Liye naively thought it meant they would go their separate ways and never meet again.

Only many years later did she finally understand.

He meant:

See you again, see you soon, see you next time. We'll meet again, Zhao Liye.

[A lamp hangs in the long night, the moon shines high above; one resolve breaks through to Liye's heart.]

*Next up. A story written with total abandon.

*Seven-year age gap.

*Clearheaded and independent heroine, older guiding hero.

*Neither lead is a good person in the conventional sense.

First edition archived on 26.7.26

Revised edition archived on 26.9.17

Theme: Our virtues and flaws spring from the same source; every gem has its blemishes.