Chen Qing Wu hesitated for a moment before extending her hand.

Meng Fu Yuan only gently grasped her wrist.

The pull was barely perceptible, but she used it to step off the vehicle. As she landed, Meng Fu Yuan softly reminded her, “Be careful.”

The moment she steadied herself, he withdrew his hand.

Chen Qing Wu walked on the stones towards the riverside, hearing a rumbling noise. She looked up and saw a truck passing over the bridge.

After the noise subsided, the surroundings became even quieter.

The air by the river was moist and carried the early summer heat.

A breeze blew by.

Chen Qing Wu took a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill her lungs.

She brushed back her hair, bent down to pick up a stone, and tossed it into the river.

With a “plop,” it sank.

It felt as if part of her bad mood was thrown away with it.

She chuckled softly.

Just as she was about to bend down to pick another stone, a hand appeared in front of her.

Meng Fu Yuan’s palm was slightly open, holding a handful of small stones, just the right size.

She had never noticed before how long his fingers were. His rolled-up sleeves revealed distinct wrist bones, and the silver watch on his wrist, not particularly expensive, seemed to exude an aura of nobility and immense value.

Chen Qing Wu paused.

Suddenly, a memory surfaced.

It was during elementary school; she couldn’t recall the exact year.

A new arcade had opened in the mall. Qi Ran had begged to go, and Uncle Meng, unable to refuse, asked Meng Fu Yuan to take them. He instructed them not to play for too long and to return home once they spent the money he gave them.

Qi Ran and she each took half of the tokens.

There were many opening promotions that day, with extra rewards for many games. There was a shooting game offering a 3D puzzle as the first prize for the highest score in a single game, a prize she really liked.

The game gun was structured like a machine gun, very heavy, and she was too weak to hold it up for long.

She wasn’t good at shooting games, so her scores were low, and she couldn’t even make it into the top ten, despite spending a lot of tokens.

Qi Ran played two rounds to help but only made it to the top three. He was still more interested in his motorcycle racing game, so he suggested she play something easier and promised to buy her the 3D puzzle later.

She continued to play alone, trying to improve her score until she used up all the tokens.

Meng Fu Yuan had taken them to the arcade and then gone to the nearby bookstore to read. He estimated the time it would take for them to spend the tokens and came back to pick them up.

When Meng Fu Yuan found her, she was staring at the leaderboard, looking both eager and dejected.

He observed her for a while, then took the empty token basket from her hand and told her to wait there without moving.

A short while later, he returned with twenty more tokens in the basket.

Before she could speak, he said, “Don’t tell Qi Ran.”

He handed her the basket and said, “Help me put in the tokens.”

She never imagined Meng Fu Yuan could play games, let alone so well.

He held the game gun expressionlessly, with incredible shooting accuracy.

In just one round, he scored enough to win the first prize.

She called a staff member and happily exchanged for the prize. With seventeen tokens left, Meng Fu Yuan asked if there was anything else she wanted to play.

She looked around and picked out a tomato-shaped plush toy from the claw machine. Meng Fu Yuan used fifteen tokens to help her win it.

There were two tokens left, but she was already satisfied, so she generously “rewarded” them to Qi Ran.

Qi Ran, seeing her holding the puzzle and the toy, asked, “Did my brother play for you?”

Meng Fu Yuan coldly replied, “I’m not that bored.”

She covered her face with the toy and secretly laughed.

At this moment, the small stones in Meng Fu Yuan’s hand were like those tokens waiting for her to use.

Chen Qing Wu picked up two stones from his palm and tossed them one by one into the river.

Meng Fu Yuan’s fingers twitched slightly. When she took the stones, it felt as if his palm had been gently pecked.

One after another, they threw all the stones.

Meng Fu Yuan asked, “Do you want more?”

Chen Qing Wu shook her head, smiling.

She started walking along the riverbank, hearing Meng Fu Yuan following behind at a leisurely pace.

“Did you find this place yourself?” she asked.

Meng Fu Yuan responded with a simple “Hmm.”

“It’s quite peaceful,” she remarked.

Meng Fu Yuan hummed in agreement again.

Chen Qing Wu didn’t speak for a while. It wasn’t until they passed through a reed field, where a large rock in the riverbed made the water flow faster and noisier, that she spoke again.

Meng Fu Yuan heard her but couldn’t make out what she said, so he stepped forward and asked, “Hmm?”

Chen Qing Wu stopped and turned, “I said…”

She paused, not expecting Meng Fu Yuan to be so close. When she looked up, their eyes almost met.

His expression was very ordinary, but she felt an inexplicable tension in her back.

The last time she broke the wind chime and cried, he came over and hugged her.

At that time, they were much closer than now, but it didn’t feel as awkward as it did now.

“I said, I’m annoyed and don’t know how to tell my family about this.” Chen Qing Wu tried to sound nonchalant.

Meng Fu Yuan was silent for a moment before speaking calmly, “Qing Wu, you said Qi Ran doesn’t like you. I think that might not be true.”

Chen Qing Wu looked up, “Brother Yuan, you said you were completely neutral.”

Meng Fu Yuan nodded.

“Then why are you speaking for Qi Ran?”

Meng Fu Yuan looked at her, “I’m not speaking for him, Qing Wu.”

His gaze was deep and sincere, with no hint of arguing for the sake of it.

“I think there might be a misunderstanding between you two,” Meng Fu Yuan added.

Chen Qing Wu smiled, “Whether there’s a misunderstanding or not doesn’t matter. I don’t want him anymore. Whether he likes me or not, I won’t want him.”

Meng Fu Yuan didn’t respond.

He should have felt a sense of relief, but he didn’t.

He only felt that Qing Wu’s smile was on her face but not in her eyes.

Twenty-five years of friendship, could it really be cut off so easily?

If she liked Qi Ran, he would rather she get what she wanted.

The desolate wind here shouldn’t belong to her.

It should be left to him alone.

Meng Fu Yuan opened his mouth but didn’t speak. Chen Qing Wu smiled and said, “If you keep persuading me, I’ll block you.”

Meng Fu Yuan said, “I’m not going to persuade you anymore. If this is your decision.”

“This is my decision.”

Chen Qing Wu turned and continued walking.

Meng Fu Yuan followed silently.

After a long walk, Chen Qing Wu suddenly stopped and looked back towards where they had parked, “Should we go back? Did we walk too far?”

“Feeling better?” Meng Fu Yuan looked at her.

Chen Qing Wu nodded.

Meng Fu Yuan said, “It’s all up to you.”

“…I want to walk a bit more.”

Meng Fu Yuan said, “Okay.”

They walked for a long time until the lights of the nearby houses became sparser. Finally, Chen Qing Wu stopped.

She turned and looked back.

It turned out to be such a long road.

So long that she definitely didn’t want to go back.

Meng Fu Yuan looked down at her, “Are you tired?”

Chen Qing Wu didn’t respond.

“Wait here, I’ll go get the car,” Meng Fu Yuan said.

Before she could say okay, Meng Fu Yuan had already turned and walked away.

She stood there, watching Meng Fu Yuan quickly disappear into the night.

After waiting for a while, just when she wondered if he had vanished, she saw the car lights in the distance.

The car drove along the path by the river and finally stopped by the road where the wild grass was flattened.

She suddenly remembered the summer when she was nine years old. After calling him, she waited at the small shop’s door for Meng Fu Yuan to pick her up.

As night fell, she finally heard the ringing of the bicycle bell.

Meng Fu Yuan, slightly hunched, rode the bike towards her like the wind. He stopped in front of her, his feet touching the ground.

He glanced at the back seat and coldly said, “Get on.”

Even though his tone wasn’t good, all her afternoon’s worries suddenly disappeared.

It felt like even if the sky fell, she could trust Meng Fu Yuan.

Now, standing in the car’s headlights, she saw the window roll down and Meng Fu Yuan leaning out.

“Qing Wu.”

“Get in the car.”

***

The wood kiln in the cultural park fires up four times a year, with the next firing just before the Dragon Boat Festival.

Chen Qing Wu had made an appointment with the kiln’s manager in advance and sent her handmade tea sets to be fired before the kiln opened.

Once the kiln was full, they lit the fire.

It burned for twenty-four hours, then cooled for seventy-two hours before the kiln could be opened.

That night, Chen Qing Wu sent a WeChat message to Meng Fu Yuan: The kiln is about to open. I hope the pieces aren’t ruined, or I’ll have to delay Sister An’s project again.

Meng Fu Yuan quickly replied: When will the kiln open?

Chen Qing Wu: Around 7 AM.

Meng Fu Yuan: Can I come and see?

Chen Qing Wu: We’ll probably arrive around 6:30, which is quite early.

Meng Fu Yuan: That’s fine.

Just after 6 AM, Chen Qing Wu received a message from Meng Fu Yuan saying he was at the studio’s entrance where the kiln was located.

Chen Qing Wu asked him to wait, and she would come to meet him.

It was still early, and the morning wind carried a hint of moisture.

As she turned the corner, she saw Meng Fu Yuan standing at the door, dressed simply in a white shirt and black pants. In the pale morning light, he had an air of nobility and elegance.

Chen Qing Wu waved and greeted him.

Meng Fu Yuan turned and looked at her before walking towards her.

When he reached her, Chen Qing Wu explained, “The wood kiln requires special fire precautions, so it’s built in the open area at the back.”

Meng Fu Yuan nodded.

They walked around the building towards the back, arriving at a high-roofed factory-like structure with brick kilns extending upwards in a stepped formation.

The area in front of the kiln was already crowded with people, mostly artisans waiting for the kiln to open.

Chen Qing Wu stood on tiptoe to look ahead and spotted a vacant spot. She said, “Let’s move a bit forward.”

She squeezed through the crowd, turning back to see Meng Fu Yuan still standing in place, seemingly reluctant to mimic her actions.

She stepped back, grabbed his arm, and said, “Is it your first time watching a kiln opening? Don’t you just want to see people’s heads?”

Meng Fu Yuan’s fingers curled slightly and then relaxed.

Even through the shirt fabric, his skin could clearly feel the warmth of her fingers.

For a moment, he lost the ability to think and let her lead him through the crowd to the front.

Chen Qing Wu let go and took out her phone from her work pants pocket to check the time.

Meng Fu Yuan discreetly raised his hand and gently squeezed the spot on his arm where she had grabbed him.

“It’s estimated to be 6:58. We still have a while,” Chen Qing Wu said, locking her phone.

“Do you need to pick a specific time?”

“Yes,” Chen Qing Wu smiled. “It’s for peace of mind.”

“How long does a kiln firing take?”

“This is a new wood kiln, so it heats up faster. It only takes about twenty-four hours. But for older kilns, like the dragon kilns in Dehua, it can take over sixty hours because they heat up slowly. The firing is fine; the most challenging part is the cooling period. It usually takes more than three days to cool down before the kiln can be opened.”

“What happens if you open the kiln early?”

“The pieces might crack. Once, I couldn’t resist opening a small wood kiln early, and the entire batch was ruined.”

Meng Fu Yuan watched her.

He loved hearing her talk about her work with such enthusiasm, it made him forget his troubles.

“Have you been to Dehua?” Meng Fu Yuan asked.

“Yes. I went there to learn. Dehua white porcelain is exceptional. The artisans there can now create porcelain with a texture as delicate as gauze.”

Chatting casually, they didn’t notice the time pass until it was time to open the kiln.

The kiln masters each offered three sticks of incense and recited, “Auspicious time, auspicious day, smooth kiln opening.”

Meng Fu Yuan noticed Chen Qing Wu closing her eyes and clasping her hands together, seemingly praying earnestly.

After the simple ceremony, two kiln workers used hammers to break open the brick-sealed kiln door.

Smoke and dust scattered instantly.

The kiln workers entered the kiln and began removing the saggers and shelves from each chamber.

Saggers

It is a ceramic boxlike container used in the firing of pottery to enclose or protect ware being fired inside a kiln.

It was like parents picking up their children from kindergarten, each one identifying their work.

After waiting for a while, Chen Qing Wu’s batch was finally unloaded.

She squatted down eagerly to inspect the pieces inside the sagger.

“The light is better outside, let’s check there,” Meng Fu Yuan said, rolling up his sleeves and lifting the square sagger.

“Your clothes will get dirty,” she warned.

“It’s fine.”

As they walked out, they heard a cheer.

Someone had fired an exceptionally beautiful kiln-transformed plum vase.

Chen Qing Wu said, “Wait for me,” and went over to take a closer look. With the owner’s permission, she gently touched it.

She returned shortly, smiling, “Borrowed some of his good luck.”

Meng Fu Yuan couldn’t help but smile a little.

Outside, Meng Fu Yuan placed the sagger down.

Chen Qing Wu squatted to examine the pieces, “It’s not bad, only one piece is damaged!”

She handed him a cup, “Look at this one, it has both flame patterns and green glaze drips. It’s beautiful! Doesn’t it remind you of that poem, ‘Half the river is emerald, half the river is red’?”

Meng Fu Yuan held the cup, turning it to admire.

“The natural ash glaze is also beautiful…” She continued to sort through the ceramics, her eyes sparkling.

Meng Fu Yuan’s gaze went beyond the cup to her.

It was back when Chen Qing Wu was a sophomore in college.

He had attended a seminar abroad and was transiting through Beicheng to return to Nancheng, so he invited Qi Ran and Qing Wu to dinner.

The restaurant was in the same direction as Qing Wu’s school. He picked up Qi Ran first and then went to get Qing Wu with him.

Qi Ran called, but she didn’t answer, likely busy in the studio.

Qi Ran decided to go in and find her. It was his first time at the school, and he was curious to look around, so he followed.

Qi Ran seemed to visit often and led the way to the ceramics department.

The student workshop was at the end of the corridor.

He stood outside the corridor window, looking past a row of drying racks, and saw the girl by the window working on a clay piece.

The window was full of green leaves, with dappled light dancing on the foliage.

She wore a simple white T-shirt, her hair casually tied up.

Her hands were covered in clay, yet her face looked as clean and pretty as white porcelain.

It took him a moment to recognize her. Oh, that’s Chen Qing Wu.

When Chen Qing Wu was in first grade, he had already started college. Later, he went abroad for graduate school, then returned to start a business and lived in Dongcheng.

They only saw each other briefly during holidays, noticing she had grown taller and looked healthier.

Beyond that, they had little interaction.

At that moment, he suddenly realized she was no longer the little girl he needed to look after.

That realization stayed with him, and he often thought about that scene in his free time.

Later, when he returned to Nancheng for family gatherings, he couldn’t help but look at her, initially hoping to find traces of the little girl she used to be, to reconcile the inexplicable feeling of unfamiliarity from that fleeting glance.

But the more he looked, the harder it became to look away.

One late night, his parents were playing cards at the Chen’s house. He was in his study on the third floor working on a financing plan. As he was about to go downstairs for water, he heard her and Qi Ran come back.

They went straight to Qi Ran’s room on the second floor without stopping in the living room.

To this day, he still remembers how he felt at that moment, realizing with a shock that he was jealous.

Such an ugly and foreign emotion he had never experienced before.

Afterwards, the more Meng Fu Yuan tried to drive away this jealousy, the more he found himself sinking deeper into his attention to her.

Eventually, he was left only with the torment of guilt, deeply mired in despair.

“Brother Yuan, look at this. This is the glaze color from the test piece you chose last time. It looks even better fired in the wood kiln than in the electric kiln,” Chen Qing Wu said, holding the cup up to Meng Fu Yuan.

Meng Fu Yuan didn’t take it, and she looked up, puzzled.

Meng Fu Yuan was looking at her, but it seemed like he wasn’t seeing her.

His gaze was deep and silent, like an abyss. It should have felt cold, but it made her feel as if she were being burned.

She was startled and quickly looked away.

“Let me see.” Meng Fu Yuan put down the cup he had been holding, the one she had named “Half the River is Emerald, Half the River is Red,” and took the gray-white glazed cup from her hand.

His voice was calm, just as usual.

But she was still uneasy, afraid to look up again.