The Boy and the Rose

In other people’s eyes, sixteen-year-old Shen Nanqiao was rebellious and aloof, while sixteen-year-old Gu Xingye was sunny and outgoing. One pretended to be a poor student, carefree and laid-back; the other pretended to be a top student, diligent and hardworking. Bearing the weight of their own pasts, the boy and girl met at Ningqing High School and began their journey through youth... In a new place, they met lively companions, experienced the warmth of the community, and rediscovered the love they had overlooked and forgotten. Friendship, bonds between teachers and students, family love, neighborly affection... The troubles of growing up and the pain of the past were gradually healed by all kinds of warmth. Though they came from different backgrounds and had different personalities, every young person and every rose would find a sky of their own. Just as the 1998 revised edition of the Xinhua Dictionary illustrates the colon: “Zhang Hua got into Peking University; Li Ping enrolled in a technical secondary school; I work as a sales clerk at a department store: we all have bright futures.”