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"At the most brilliant and profound places in my life, only you have the gift to understand me."
/
To avoid debt collectors, He Du was forced to move for the sixth time.
Her new place was a hidden basement. Its only drawback was the sheer number of underground bands that hadn't made it big yet. It was a mixed crowd.
But she had no choice.
He Du wheeled her suitcase down the dim corridor, and its wheels accidentally knocked over a cardboard box outside a door.
A little calico cat jumped out, scattering most of the litter inside.
A soft voice called from the pitch-black room, "Kitty, come back."
He Du hurriedly apologized and looked up, but she couldn't see anyone. She only saw a pair of blue-brown eyes, glittering like precious stones, slowly turn toward her.
-
She had only just gotten halfway through cleaning her new home when the power suddenly went out.
He Du froze in the dark and heard a rustling noise behind her at the front door.
Gripping her broom, she spun around and shouted, "Who's there?!"
"Crackle..."
The faulty power connection kicked back in, and the lights came on again.
The owner of those unusual blue-brown eyes was crouching beside her suitcase. He held the calico by the scruff of its neck in his left hand and an empty, licked-clean cat food can in his right. Turning to look at her, he said apologetically, "Sorry. I'll buy you a new can... and a new suitcase."
-
He Du discovered that Zhou Yige, like her, hadn't moved here to join a band.
But there was something different about him.
He never seemed to worry about making ends meet, and his day-to-day life was far more relaxed than hers.
He Du had always assumed Zhou Yige was a rich kid slumming it, with nerves of steel and a steady temper.
If he ever suddenly disappeared, she figured, he'd have gone home to inherit the family business.
That was until she found Zhou Yige's suicide note at the amusement park.
/
The year after the White Dove band broke up, Zhou Yige returned to the basement where he used to live.
He planned to spend the last days of his life there, quietly, without bothering anyone.
One day, a young woman moved into the unit next door.
A small light began glowing in the once-dark window, and he gradually got used to falling asleep to the sound of her humming.
He thought those days could last a long time.
Later, Zhou Yige found a group of burly men gathered outside He Du's door, all with tattoos on their arms and thick gold chains around their necks.
He knew them. They were hired enforcers who collected debts.
Zhou Yige went back to the street and finally found He Du curled up in a corner with her knees hugged to her chest.
Under a dim gray sky, he crouched beside her.
He asked casually, as if it were no big deal, "Why don't you... move in with me for now?"
-
Much later, He Du asked Zhou Yige, "When did you decide you wanted to live?"
Zhou Yige thought for a moment, then said, "After you moved in."
"Liar. I know you wrote a suicide note."
"Mm... because I wanted you to worry about me a little more."
/
Down-on-her-luck heiress x lead singer of a band
#BothAreFirstTimers HappyEnding
#OneOnOneMutualSalvation
#"At the most brilliant and profound places in my life, only you have the gift to understand me." From Qiu Miaojin's Last Words from Montmartre
Theme: World peace
