If it’s said to be love at first sight, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

It happened by a pond in a small outdoor park, where a man was wearing a blue cloth shirt, a beret, and holding a book, quietly absorbed in reading.

She just noticed him like that but lacked the courage to approach him and say hello.

To her surprise, she encountered the man for two or three consecutive days afterward.

She observed that he read with great concentration, seeming indifferent to the noise and bustle around him, unable to be disturbed.

He could sit there, completely still, for an entire afternoon.

He was very handsome, quite tall, appearing to be in his twenties, and seemed not to come from a wealthy family, as his beret and trousers were worn out.

However, they were very clean, suggesting he must be a man with a proclivity for cleanliness.

That night, upon returning home, she couldn’t help but dwell on his image in her mind.

She thought that she might be falling for him; otherwise, she wouldn’t keep thinking of him like this.

She tried for a long time to sleep but couldn’t, eventually rising to pick up her brush and sketch the likeness of the man.

She had learned to draw for some time but did not persist, as her mother preferred her to play piano and dance.

She was a young mistress, destined to marry someone who matched her family’s status, her mother hoping to cultivate her elegant demeanor.

Nonetheless, at that moment, she wasn’t thinking much, just wanted to draw him.

She was amazed by her memory, as she truly relied on her imagination to sketch him.

She remembered his expressions with clarity.

The next day, she took the drawing back to that open-air park, intending to give it to him and greet him, thereby getting to know him.

But that day, she waited there for a long time, yet he never arrived.

She thought he might have been caught up with something unexpectedly and thus didn’t come.

So on the third day, fourth day, fifth day, she went to wait every day.

But every day’s outcome was the same; he never appeared, and she never got to meet him. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

That day, the sky suddenly began to rain, and people in the park gradually left, leaving her standing in the rain, feeling terribly sad.

She regretted not having the courage to approach him and say hello when they first met, regretting not getting to know him.

Some people in this world really disappear completely as if they had never appeared, as if they vanished without a trace.

Nearby, a scavenger was gathering trash in the rain, going from one bin to another.

She watched, bewildered, coming to terms with the reality that he wouldn’t come anymore.

Just as she was about to leave, a voice suddenly came from behind, calling her: "Miss... wait a moment!"

It was that scavenger.

She turned her head, looking at the middle-aged man in simple rain gear, his face sallow and thin, unable to understand why he called her.

The scavenger approached and handed her a soaked book, saying: "Miss, you’re not going back in this heavy rain—did you lose something? Look at this book, is it yours?"

She looked at the book in the scavenger’s hand; it wasn’t her book, but the cover seemed familiar.

It was a book the man had read; she quickly took it, feeling her heart tremble.

The scavenger said: "Miss, now that you’ve found it, hurry home. It’s pouring rain, don’t catch a cold!"

After saying this, the scavenger left, and she blinked as she suddenly realized it was still raining.

She hastily tucked the book into her arms and ran toward a nearby building.

Her clothes had been soaked through by the rain, but nonetheless, she cradled the book, hoping it would get less wet.

Once under the building’s eaves, she wiped the rain from her hair and hands.

Though unable to wipe it dry, she couldn’t wait to open the book’s front page.

On it was a single pen-written name soaked by the rain.

Called: Xue Mobei!

...

How many years have passed since they met again? Liang Yue’e could hardly remember.

But even after all this time, upon seeing him again, she recognized him instantly.

This face, this person, had rooted too deeply in her heart.

Xue Mobei, Xue Mobei, all these years, you surely wouldn’t know a woman has longed for you for half a lifetime.

Unlike Liang Yue’e, Li Guirong was startled because she had once ordered a Cheongsam from Ji Yunjin.