The engines of the Boeing 777 hummed steadily as Lin Xiao pushed the meal cart through business class. The elderly woman in the window seat of row twelve was wiping a coffee stain from the corner of her mouth with a tissue. Under the reading light, a fine crack along the rim of her porcelain cup stood out clearly, exactly like the one on the mug from Lin Xiao’s middle school days, still tucked away in her storage cabinet. Chen Mo had bought it with half a month’s worth of breakfast money when she was in ninth grade. Crooked sunflowers were painted on its side, and it still sat on the top shelf of her apartment bookcase.
