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The summer she was seventeen, Xu Mu moved south with her father and rented a place in an apartment building.
That was when she first met Lu Wenzu.
In the fine drizzle, someone held an umbrella for him. Beneath its edge was a face as warm and gentle as jade.
Later, with the college entrance exams approaching, her father disappeared.
All he left behind was a note telling her to take care of herself and saying the landlord shouldn’t give her a hard time.
Behind her, Lu Wenzu leaned against the doorframe. “Miss, your father owes me three months’ rent. What do you think we should do now?”
A faint smile played at his lips, but his eyes were full of teasing.
-
She knew he was only interested in her on a whim, whether out of amusement or pity.
So during the years she spent by his side, Xu Mu never dared to fall for him.
She knew Lu Wenzu wasn’t nearly as gentle as he seemed. Deep down, he was detached and aloof, apart from the world around him.
So when she suggested they split up, all he did was ask casually, “Are you sure?”
Xu Mu nodded and left without looking back.
-
They met again during the final year of her diplomatic posting in Africa, when she was attending a conference.
The girl who once had nowhere to go could now hold her own in diplomatic circles.
When the meeting ended, the warm, humid evening breeze drifted across the terrace. Lu Wenzu offered her a slender cigarette.
Xu Mu glanced at it, remembering the first time she’d smoked that brand. She’d been surprised by its smoothness, the smoke gliding down her throat with a hint of bitter dark chocolate.
She smiled and waved it away. “It’s against the rules, and... I’ve already quit.”
Lu Wenzu gave a disinterested smile and said nothing.
Later, Xu Mu’s posting ended, and she returned to Beijing in the depths of winter.
Lu Wenzu still wasn’t used to the dry, bitter cold of the north. His throat felt dry and itchy, and he wrapped his coat tighter around himself as he waited for her in the wind and snow.
All just to ask her one question: “Do you really not miss the past at all?”
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Clear-headed × free-spirited
Both sexually inexperienced / heterosexual / 7-year age gap / Romance begins after she’s an adult
Theme: Keep your ideals alive, and let love endure
