Xu Suiran

Biodata

Background / History

Xu Suiran’s parents run a grain and cooking oil shop in Whitebank Town. The family lives above the shop in a small two-story building, with a landline used for business. Her parents hope that studying science will give her enough mathematical ability to handle the shop’s payments without losing money 9 47.

Her family was among those affected by Yuan Su’s father’s debts: her parents lent him eight thousand yuan, which remained unpaid. Seeing Yuan Su’s family collapse changed how she viewed her own supportive home and her worries about the future 9 11.

After graduating from high school, she attends Nanhua Normal University and majors in early childhood education. Her coursework includes dance, piano, and painting, which she describes to Pu Yu with her usual humorous complaints 83 87.

Appearance

• Eyes: Round eyes, later described as almond-shaped 5 48.
• Hair: Wears a ponytail; on one rushed morning, her hair sticks up “like a bird’s nest” 5 13.
• School clothing: Wears a blue-and-white uniform when accompanying Pu Yu to the internet café 15.
• University-era clothing: Wears a blue down jacket and a snugly wrapped scarf when visiting Pu Yu in Dongzhou 87.

Personality

Xu Suiran is outgoing, affectionate, and quick to welcome others. She links arms with Pu Yu, enthusiastically shows her around school, and readily offers food or help. Her generosity is attentive rather than merely extravagant: noticing Pu Yu’s plain lunch and single bottle of soda, she divides the drink equally; when she suspects Pu Yu has skipped breakfast, she tricks her into taking a bun 5 9 13.

She is fiercely protective of her friend. She improvises an explanation to save Pu Yu from public humiliation over counterfeit money, refuses to let her visit the internet café alone, and sharply answers Zhou Tingting’s attempts to belittle her academic results 6 15 22.

Her dramatic complaints rarely last long. She quickly moves from despair over an exam answer to planning a holiday outing, and celebrates the end of midterms despite calling her results a disaster. She also enjoys romantic gossip, taking a particular interest in Pu Yu and Yuan Su’s growing closeness 18 20 28 37.

Despite her enthusiasm for other people’s romances, she initially fails to recognize Song Jinnian’s feelings for her. She assumes he prefers a quiet, academically gifted girl like Li Yunyi and is astonished to learn that the supposed romantic rivals are actually cousins 83.

Her loyalty continues beyond school. She spends the summer trying to cheer Pu Yu after Yuan Su’s disappearance and intervenes when graduation-dinner conversation touches that painful subject. Later, she lends Pu Yu money without hesitation or questions; discovering that her friend has been injured, she tearfully scolds her for taking such risks 81 83 130 143.

School Life

Relationships

• Pu Yu — Close friend. Their friendship begins with Xu Suiran’s welcome lunch and becomes an inseparable companionship. She supports Pu Yu’s studies, defends her, and encourages her ambition to write professionally 5 9 22 47 48. Their friendship continues through university: she visits Pu Yu in Dongzhou, brings early birthday gifts, and proudly reports that students at her university admire Pu Yu’s writing 87. She later helps fund Pu Yu’s undisclosed plan, visits her in hospital, and helps bring her home after discharge 130 143 146. At Pu Yu’s first book signing, she fulfills her high-school promise by securing reader ticket No. 001. Pu Yu’s personal dedication thanks her for the sunshine she gave during the darkest summer of Pu Yu’s life and calls her an unfading sunflower 169.
• Yuan Su — Classmate whose former academic success and family troubles she remembers. Initially wary of his temper, she is surprised by his patience with Pu Yu and later suspects him of secretly giving her the repaired Walkman. Despite her curiosity about him, she still barely knows him personally when visiting his shop 5 10 11 28 37. She later recognizes how important he is to Pu Yu and tries to shield her from painful questions after his disappearance 81 83. Following his return, she enthusiastically teases Pu Yu about their reunion and joins the celebration for his later college entrance examination results 118 157.
• Song Jinnian — Deskmate and class monitor. She resents his strict study supervision, likening him to her father, though Pu Yu points out his patience and concern for her progress 24 47. He remembers her dislike of scallions, rushes to help when she twists her ankle in physical education, and repeatedly explains mathematics problems to her, but she initially remains oblivious to his affection 83. They become a couple after he travels to Nanhua on her birthday and confesses that he has liked her for a long time 91. Their relationship includes occasional arguments, but they continue jointly supporting Pu Yu; at the final book signing, he accompanies Xu Suiran before dawn and holds her close to shield her from the cold 118 130 143 146 169.
• Li Suhua — Pu Yu’s grandmother, whom she visits and affectionately addresses as Grandma. She offers family help with the leaking roof and joins Pu Yu’s birthday celebration at home 26 32 49. She later accompanies Pu Yu to shop for a jacket for Li Suhua and helps conceal the true circumstances of Pu Yu’s shoulder injury to avoid alarming her 65 146.
• Zhou Tingting — Classmate she confronts for mocking Pu Yu’s Chinese score and dismissing her success as luck 22.
• Parents — Supportive shopkeepers who provide her with a stable home, but also impose consequences for poor grades 9 27. Her mother supports Li Suhua’s defense of Yuan Su at the parent meeting, arguing that students should help one another rather than be judged by family circumstances. She later makes dumplings for the friends’ Lunar New Year’s Eve hospital meal 67 143.
• Uncle — A bricklayer whom she offers to ask for help repairing Pu Yu’s roof; her father has learned some building skills from him 32.
• Li Yunyi — A neighboring class’s top student whom Xu Suiran mistakenly believes is pursuing Song Jinnian after seeing her give him a pink letter. She continues to favor the supposed pairing until Song Jinnian reveals at the graduation dinner that Li Yunyi is his cousin 37 83.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Notable Quotes

“Woo! To our friendship!” 9

“The snack shop’s nowhere near as important as you!” 47

“Then I’ll stand in a really long line at your book signing and proudly tell your readers—I believed in you when you were only seventeen!” 48

“This is Little Rain’s first book signing! I have to get ticket number one!” 169

Trivia

• Sweet-and-sour ribs are her favorite cafeteria dish; she calls the school’s orange soda its best offering 5 9.
• Enjoys romance magazines and asks Pu Yu to hide two of them from Song Jinnian’s supervision 18 24 47.
• Frequently struggles to wake up early and sometimes gives up walking to school with Pu Yu so she can sleep longer 8 13 27.
• Li Suhua secretly slips twenty yuan into her schoolbag after Pu Yu’s birthday celebration, unwilling to leave the cake entirely at Xu Suiran’s expense 49.
• Dislikes scallions, a preference Song Jinnian remembers 83.
• Brings fruit wine to the graduation dinner and uses her peach-flavored bottle to distract Song Jinnian from asking Pu Yu about Yuan Su 83.
• Her mother puts more than twenty lucky coins into the Lunar New Year’s Eve dumplings, allowing all four friends at the hospital meal to find one 143.
• Her promised place at Pu Yu’s future book signing becomes literal: she receives ticket No. 001, and Pu Yu addresses her dedication to “Sui Sui, forever my reader No. 001” 48 169.