Meeting the Parents

Only when Chen Nanxing's parents' lingering figures, seeing them off with dazed reluctance, had disappeared from view did Xu Hongdou finally let out a long breath and relax.

"Thinking about Chen Nanxing again?"

"How could I not? Chen Nanxing was the same age as me. All these years, she'd talked about buying a house, buying a car, finding someone. But Beijing housing prices—you know what they're like. She couldn't afford one at all. As for a car, without a plate, she couldn't even buy one. To get a plate, she'd have to enter a lottery, and the odds were basically no different from winning a prize. And finding someone—she talked a big game, but when it came down to it, she got scared and hesitated. In the end, she got nothing but a terminal illness, leaving her parents to bury their child. It hurts just thinking about it."

Wang Yan smiled. "The dead are gone. Whether it's parents or friends, people have to learn to accept it. You've just spent a lot of time with Chen Nanxing's parents lately. They may look cheerful, but the pain of losing a daughter won't pass that quickly. They'll never truly get over it for the rest of their lives, and you've been affected by them. Your grief will come quickly and go quickly. You'll be fine once you get home."

Xu Hongdou's mood sank even lower. "That's true. When Chen Nanxing had just passed away, I really couldn't bring myself to do anything. Every day, I was muddleheaded. Four months have passed now. It still hurts when I think about it, but it's not like before..."

Wang Yan understood. She was afraid that she would forget Chen Nanxing, forget that feeling—or that when her own day came, no one would remember her. It