Afternoon.
Ning Youguang was alone in her room organizing things when she ca across an old, yellowed photo of her and Shi Wangyue from their kindergarten days in an old, weathered book.
The photo, aged by ti, was slightly yellow too.
Yet it didn’t hinder her heart from lting at the adorable appearance of the children in the photo.
She chuckled to herself for quite a while and couldn’t resist taking it downstairs to share it with Shi Wangyue.
She found him in the backyard garden.
At the ti, Shi Wangyue and Grandpa Xia were in the backyard garden admiring the flowers.
More precisely, they were admiring a tree.
Grandpa Xia pointed to a bare ginkgo tree in front of them and said to Shi Wangyue, "This tree was planted the year you were hospitalized. Youyou insisted I bring her to plant it. She said planting a tree was good, a virtuous deed, and that planting a ginkgo tree at ho symbolizes health and longevity for the family."
Grandpa Xia lovingly touched the tall trunk of the ginkgo tree, "When we planted it back then, this tree was about the sa height as Youyou that year."
He reached out his hand, gesturing about the height of his granddaughter when she was six or seven.
Then he added, "After planting this ginkgo, every year Youyou would eagerly look forward to it growing tall, growing big, big enough to bear fruits."
As he reminisced, he couldn’t help but laugh, "That silly girl, as smart as she was, didn’t know that it takes twenty years for a ginkgo tree to bear fruit?"
"So, the year Youyou went to the capital, before she left, she looked regretfully at the tree full of golden ginkgo leaves and said, ’I’m leaving, why aren’t you bearing fruit yet?’, ’If you don’t bear fruit soon, I might not get to eat your fruit in the future.’"
Grandpa Xia chuckled, lowering his voice and leaning closer to Shi Wangyue, "I never told her that it takes twenty years for a ginkgo to bear fruit."
Shi Wangyue’s smile grew wider and wider.
Then he looked up at the ginkgo tree, now as tall as a two-story building, unsure how to describe his feelings at that mont.
Though he was standing steadily, he couldn’t help but sway slightly, wanting to embrace the tree.
He felt a sense of growth spreading from the deepest part of his body, gradually extending until vibrant flowers blood on his old wounds.
Each flower had a fresh fragrance.
...
When Ning Youguang walked into the backyard garden, she witnessed Shi Wangyue gazing up at the top of the ginkgo tree.
The soft sunlight fell on his face, softening his features, while his eyes appeared unusually deep.
The child’s particularly beautiful hands, with long fingers and distinct joints, were placed over his eyes. A beam of sunlight pierced through the bare branches of the ginkgo tree, through his fingers, filling his pupils and making his eyes shine like bright amber.
The reason she could see all this so clearly was because she had already taken out her phone and captured the scene.
It wasn’t long before Shi Wangyue noticed his girlfriend secretly taking photos of him.
He turned, looking steadily at her while she looked at her phone, as if crossing seasons and countless spaces, with only her in his eyes.
Seeing that he had noticed her.
Ning Youguang teased with a beaming smile, "Which family’s prince is as graceful as a painting, accidentally captured by my cara?"
Shi Wangyue laughed.
That smile slowly blood on his handso and unparalleled face, more dazzling than the winter sun.
Grandpa Xia was caught off guard by their affectionate display and, helplessly, turned away with a shake of his head, hands clasped behind his back.
As he left.
He said, while walking, "I’ll go and find the ginkgo nuts from the cabinet, have the kitchen prepare them, and tonight we’ll have ginkgo nut chicken stew."
...
On the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year.
The guests who ca to offer New Year’s greetings at the Xia residence gradually departed, when unexpectedly, a short-haired girl, beautifully dressed in a down jacket, ca to visit.
At that ti, because the other mbers of the Xia family had social engagents, only Ning Youguang and Shi Wangyue, who didn’t need to socialize, sat downstairs.
"Yule?" Ning Youguang stood up from the sofa to greet the guest.
The girl entering was Liang Yule, the daughter of the Liang family’s heiress, whom she had t once in the neighborhood and had since added as a WeChat friend.
"Please co sit." She invited the girl to take a seat.
After entering, Liang Yule looked around the Xia family’s living room before walking over to Ning Youguang and asking, "Are you two the only ones at ho?"
Her eyes glanced at Shi Wangyue, who was sitting beside Ning Youguang.
"Yes," Ning Youguang introduced Shi Wangyue to her, "This is my boyfriend, Shi Wangyue. You can just call him Brother Wangyue."
"Hello, Brother Wangyue." Liang Yule, despite her cool appearance, was sweet-mouthed and smiled at people, even complinting, "The fairy teacher’s boyfriend looks so well matched with you."
Shi Wangyue was amused by her, "Thank you."
During the New Year, everyone entering the house is a guest.
Ning Youguang warmly offered her so snacks and water.
While placing nuts, snacks, and other treats in front of the girl, she asked, "Would you like tea or a drink?"
"I’ll drink whatever you’re having," Liang Yule said openly, "I drink everything but alcohol."
Ning Youguang couldn’t help laughing at the child’s straightforwardness and quickly poured her a cup of hot tea.
Liang Yule politely accepted it, holding it in her hands and taking a small sip.
Only then did Ning Youguang sit down and ask her, "Are you here to pay respects for the New Year? The elders at ho are all upstairs, I can call them down."
The girl quickly shook her head, "Teacher, no need, I’m not here to pay respects, I’m here to see you."
Ning Youguang was surprised, "To see ?"
Setting down the teacup, the girl said, "Yes, I saw you and Brother Wangyue walking in the neighborhood this afternoon, so I specially ca to find you."
Ning Youguang asked, "Is there sothing you need from ?"
The girl slightly lowered her eyes, after a mont of silence.
She looked at Ning Youguang and softly asked, "Teacher, last ti I heard you say that you’re a university psychology teacher, is that right?"
Ning Youguang nodded.
Liang Yule further asked, "I ntioned you to my mother when I got back, and she said you helped take care of her health and that’s why I was born, isn’t it?"
"Right," Ning Youguang smiled and nodded, "Does your mother still rember ?"
Liang Yule smiled and said, "Yes, my mom said she rembers very clearly. Back then, you were still very young but your dical skills were amazing. You cured many illnesses that other doctors couldn’t and helped her take good care of her health so she could have ."
"She told you all that?" Ning Youguang said with a smile.
At the sa ti.
She recalled when Miss Liang ca to see her for treatnt years ago.
Back then.
She was in her thirties, experiencing a series of major life changes.
First, she endured the simultaneous cancer diagnoses of her parents and their subsequent passing. Later, amid her grief, she hurriedly married her then-boyfriend whom she had been dating for only a short while.
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