The plum rain season in Shanghai was always sticky and damp. Lin Wan stood at the doorway of her rented apartment holding a cardboard box, rain trickling down the ribs of her umbrella and splashing tiny droplets onto the ground. The box held all her worldly possessions, with the yellowed sketchbook resting right on top, its cover still bearing the faded stain of a coffee ring.
It was in this very room, three summers ago, that she first met Gu Chenzhou. Fresh out of college, she was renting the top-floor apartment of an old residential building. On a sweltering evening, she was hurrying to finish a design draft on her computer when she suddenly heard the sound of a guitar drifting from the rooftop. Following the music, she found a young man in a white shirt leaning against the rusted railing, the setting sun casting a long shadow behind him.
"You live here too?" He turned to her with a smile, revealing two canine teeth. "I'm Gu Chenzhou from 302 downstairs."
Chapter 163