At first, they were people from different worlds. He came from a good family, free-spirited, intelligent, and hardworking—success seemed inevitable for him. As for her, she was born in humble circumstances, and could only try her best to change her fate through studying. It wasn’t until she was accepted into a top high school that their lives intersected. After that, though she also made it into a prestigious university, there were countless other university students just like ants, all having to start from the bottom. She had worked so hard, but wasn’t the starting point different? From the moment he was born, he had already run hundreds of meters ahead of her in life.

Her love for him was like the soil falling in love with the clouds. She loved everything about him, and his world seemed to be an irresistible attraction to her.

“Qianye, what are you thinking about? Look at the mountain top I photographed. It’s like you can see everything from up there…” Han Chao said excitedly. Qianye smiled at him, hiding the slight sense of loss in her eyes. After resting for a while, they took the cable car back down. It didn’t take long to reach the bottom.

Jiujiang wasn’t as bustling as Beijing, but it had the beauty of the countryside. They went to a farmhouse restaurant and enjoyed a hearty meal. The village streets were especially lively at this time, as the New Year’s atmosphere began to grow stronger once the twelfth lunar month arrived. They returned to their hotel late at night. After washing up, they each lay down in bed. Han Chao insisted on squeezing into her bed with her, and she enjoyed this feeling of being needed. They cuddled together, gazing at the stars outside the window. Eventually, as Qianye grew too tired to keep her eyes open, she lay down to sleep. Seeing that she hadn’t refused, Han Chao stayed beside her, too tired from the day’s exertions, and fell asleep beside her.

They immediately felt an unprecedented sense of safety; they had finally found harmony and belonged to each other. From that moment on, this man was completely different from the people around him. They had shared the most intimate parts of themselves in the early morning of a foreign land. His love was turbulent and long-lasting, enough to irrigate all the dry land she had walked through.

At that time, they still didn’t know the harshness of time, how loneliness could corrode to the bone.

That winter break was a time of change. When Qianye returned home, she saw Zhao Nanzhuo. After a year, he had grown quite a bit. Since their parting at the train station, he had finally let go. It seemed he had heard from their classmates that Qianye and Han Chao were now together, and he had called her much less. This time, she noticed he seemed unusually silent.

Meanwhile, Zhou Wen and Zhao Qidong were both busy going in different directions, as if a storm were about to break.

In the evening, after dinner, Zhao Nanzhuo didn’t go out to play basketball as he usually did with his friends. Instead, he sat alone on the balcony, looking out at the distant mountain mist.

That day, he had just returned from Chongqing. At the dinner table, it was just him and his mother, Zhou Wen. Several times, she seemed to want to say something on the phone but hesitated. Zhao Nanzhuo had already guessed a few things.

“Where’s Dad?”

“We’re getting divorced. You and Qianye will stay with me. In a few days, after the formalities are done, he’ll be completely moved out.”

“Why?” Zhao Nanzhuo thought back to his childhood when his parents often held his hand and took him to the amusement park. There was one time his father had taken him to school. He sat among many older kids, listening to the lessons. When he grew impatient, he would rush to the podium, imitating his father, writing on the blackboard with chalk, which made the students below laugh out loud.

That was a childhood many people envied.

“Nothing lasts forever,” Zhou Wen said, letting go. “At least Nanzhuo will stay by my side.”

After Zhao Nanzhuo told Qianye about his parents’ divorce, she didn’t know how to comfort him. Her parents had abandoned her too early, so she couldn’t truly understand the painful sense of being torn apart.