The deep winter cinema was chillingly cold. Su Nian was curled up in the corner of the third row, the light and shadow of the old movie flickering across her face on the screen. This was the third time she had come to see "The Glorious Years of Youth" all by herself. As the screening ended, the glaring overhead lights suddenly flashed on, making her eye sockets ache. The ending song mixed with the rustle of a cleaning lady sweeping the floor, drifting over while the names on the credits—"Producer: Lin Xubai"—stung her eyes like poisoned needles.
She wrapped her coat tightly around herself and stood up, just in time to bump into a young couple leaving the theater arm in arm. The girl's silver-bell-like laughter shattered into the empty screening hall. In a daze, Su Nian saw her eighteen-year-old self again, standing on tiptoe as she shoved a warm cup of milk tea into Lin Xubai's arms: "When this movie comes out, we have to sit in the front row!"
Back then, they were both students at a key high school in a small town. Lin Xubai was a prominent figure in the humanities class, someone who could write lingering, soulful poetry and hold a guitar while playing "Blue Lotus" on the rooftop. Su Nian was just an ordinary girl lost in the dust, whose greatest anticipation every day during morning exercises was stealing glances at his upright back through the rows.
Chapter 196