Hollow Bamboo: Love Left a Little Wound

This is a story about watching over someone and being watched over, about waiting and being waited for. In this story, there are no romantic encounters, only long years of waiting; no bonds spanning three lifetimes, only love for one lifetime; no sweet promises, only silent devotion. When love leaves, will it ever return? When love has become the past, should the heart move on? Is it right or wrong to cling to something beyond reason? Is it worth holding on until the end? Some say, “Love is like stretching a rubber band: the one who refuses to let go is the only one who gets hurt.” Some say, “Happiness is like grains of sand: the tighter you hold on, the faster they slip away.” But others say, “After the clouds clear, the moon will shine again.” Even a shattered mirror can be made whole. Kong Xinzhu cannot forget her first love, which ended without resolution, yet her pride makes her pretend to be indifferent. Ouyang Linxi seems heartless, yet his words and actions often give people the impression that perhaps he still loves her. They once loved each other with all their hearts, but inexplicably broke up. Was it because they were young and foolish, or was there more to it? Three years later, they meet again. He now has another woman by his side, and she seems to have someone too. Can they rekindle their old romance? Once the layers of mystery are peeled away, will they be able to bear a love that has already wounded them? And what of Shen Xichen, the boy whose ever-smiling face sweeps the gloom from people’s hearts, making them feel as if they’re basking in a spring breeze? Even the coldest heart can be warmed by him. Can he move the heart of a girl who has been hurt by love? Where will their love lead? They have all held fast to a love that is utterly sincere. But until you’ve lived through most of the story, you cannot know whether you loved the right person. It always takes the passage of time to learn whether it was worth it. Perhaps love has no right or wrong, and there is no need to ask whether it is worth it. What, after all, is love?