This is a story about the youth of a boy from the mountains and a girl who transferred schools.
They met by a lotus pond and promised on Cuiyun Mountain that they would move forward together. Later, one went far away while the other stayed behind. Many years later, he came back, having become the person she had wanted to be all those years ago.
Nothing much happens in this book. There is a letter, half a mooncake, a scarf, a train ticket he could not bear to return, hands cracked by the winter cold, and a lamp in a mountain hollow that stayed lit long into the night. The days passed, one after another, and the boy grew up, one day at a time.
I dedicate this book to those who quietly hide their affection in their hearts, and to the teachers in tiny schools who keep helping their students move forward.
She is alone and supporting her family.
What she was staring at was not the flag, but the newspaper clipping.
No one mentioned the unrefunded ticket.
Every word she said was followed by half a sentence.
When she opened her mouth, she was not asking about the scenery. Some encounters have a mystery buried at the beginning.