As the setting sun sank beneath the sea, Shen Xiu and Liu Qingyan climbed a seaside cliff. The cliff stood roughly a hundred zhang high, rising straight from the ocean like a giant hand reaching for the sky. From its summit, they could take in the entire sea at a glance. Far below, waves crashed against black reefs, sending out deep, majestic echoes. The lingering glow of sunset dyed the sea dark red, like a sheet of flowing blood-colored silk unfurling all the way to the ends of heaven and earth.
Liu Qingyan sat at the cliff's edge, her legs dangling as she gently swung them. Gazing at the sea reddened by the setting sun, she took a deep breath. The wind blew down from the heights, sharper than it had been on the beach, stirring her hair and the hem of her clothes like a tiny flag in the twilight. Shen Xiu sat beside her and looked out at the sea as well. Neither of them spoke. They simply sat side by side in silence, sharing the same view and the same peace.
After a long while, the red at the horizon gradually faded, replaced by a deep blue-violet, as though someone had lightly brushed a wash of pale ink across the canopy of the sky with an enormous brush. The first star lit up in the east, then the second, the third, and more and more until they filled the entire heavens. The sea merged into the night as well, turning a deep inky blue. Only moonlight laid a narrow silver-white path across the water, winding into the distance.
"Shen Xiu," Liu Qingyan broke the silence, her voice soft yet clear in the night wind. "Do you still remember the first time you met me?"
Shen Xiu thought