Summer of the Years

On her twenty-sixth birthday, Lin Suixia, a livestream shopping host, gets squeezed by her boss and cheated on by her boyfriend. She decides to drive back to her hometown and have a bowl of hand-pulled beef noodles made by her mother, who runs a noodle shop in town. She would have gotten her meal as planned, if she hadn’t driven into a ditch full of filthy water. As Jiang Mo helps her out, holding her around the waist as they head for shore, he laughs. “All these years later, and you still love this little creek.” Lin Suixia: ??? As if! Back when they were in school, she fell in while fishing out the soccer ball he was so fond of! Their second reunion. As Jiang Mo neuters the family’s little calico cat, he asks her again, “I heard you and your boyfriend are getting married. Is he handsome?” Lin Suixia: “More handsome than you.” Jiang Mo doesn’t believe her. “Impossible. I’m the most handsome guy in town!” Lin Suixia fires back, “You said it yourself: in town. The world outside is huge.” Jiang Mo’s hand slips. That day, a desperate yowl rings out from the calico cat in his veterinary clinic. Later on. Lin Suixia makes peace with her father, quits her job, and stays in her hometown to learn the traditional craft of Yixing clay teapot making from him. As Jiang Mo sits beside her on a little stool, livestreaming the teapot-making process, he asks tentatively, “Even with the world outside so big, isn’t home still the best?” Lin Suixia: “Mm-hmm.” Jiang Mo cautiously follows up. “What’s so good about it?” Lin Suixia: “...The people.” He looks quite pleased, the corners of his mouth lifting. That summer, the wind played with his hair and the hem of her skirt.