Chapter Summaries

After recovering from a fever, Pu Yu kept messaging the vanished Yuan Su throughout summer, unable to move on. When she checked their exam results, she scored 658 and learned that Yuan Su had earned an English score of zero after leaving before the final exam.

• Pu Yu woke after five days with her fever broken and sent Yuan Su five messages, but he did not reply.
• Pu Yu locked away Yuan Su's letter and sent him a message every day while withdrawing from Xu Suiran and others.
• Pu Yu checked her college entrance exam results and scored 658, enough to get into Dongzhou University.
• Pu Yu entered Yuan Su's admission number and saw his outstanding scores in every subject except English, where he had scored zero.
• Pu Yu realized Yuan Su could have ranked first if he had stayed to take the English exam and grieved that he had given up his prospects for her.

After learning that Yuan Su could have ranked first, Pu Yu mourned the future he had given up, then chose Dongzhou University and received an anonymous scholarship remittance. Her admission letter arrived, but Yuan Su still did not answer her messages.

• Pu Yu told Li Suhua that Yuan Su could have come first, and Li Suhua comforted her and urged her to live for the future he had given up.
• Pu Yu chose Dongzhou University despite knowing Yuan Su would not attend, and Cheng Siyi told her that an unnamed sponsor would support her studies.
• Pu Yu received a 3,000-yuan remittance with the message “Study hard” and promised to repay it once she began earning.
• Pu Yu visited the old repair shop and learned it was being turned into a milk tea shop.
• Pu Yu received her admission letter to Dongzhou University's Chinese Language and Literature program and sent Yuan Su messages that went unanswered.

Pu Yu attended a farewell dinner with her classmates, where she learned Song Jinnian and Li Yunyi were cousins and noticed Song Jinnian’s feelings for Xu Suiran. When Yuan Su came up, Pu Yu admitted she did not know where he had gone, and the chapter ended with her silently wishing him safety.

• Xu Suiran invited Pu Yu to a classmates’ dinner to celebrate their graduation and college admissions.
• At the dinner, Song Jinnian explained that Li Yunyi was his cousin, and Pu Yu realized Xu Suiran had not noticed his feelings for her.
• A classmate asked where Yuan Su had gone, and Song Jinnian quietly asked Pu Yu if she knew.
• Xu Suiran changed the subject, but Pu Yu said she did not know where Yuan Su was and tried the orange fruit wine.
• Pu Yu watched her classmates talk about the future and wished Yuan Su safety, even if they never met again.

The night before leaving home, Pu Yu said goodbye to her grandmother and set off for Dongzhou, still carrying the unanswered messages she had sent Yuan Su. As the train arrived, a boy’s voice came through her music player, calling her an idiot and saying her name.

• Li Suhua packed extra supplies and pressed a little over three hundred yuan on Pu Yu before they embraced.
• Pu Yu left the money behind after her grandmother fell asleep and promised to call and remind Li Suhua to take care of herself.
• Li Suhua accompanied Pu Yu to the bus station, where Pu Yu boarded and watched her grandmother disappear into the morning mist.
• Pu Yu received Sui Sui’s travel message, then reread her unanswered messages to Yuan Su during the journey.
• As Pu Yu’s train reached Dongzhou, a boy’s voice came through her earphones, repeated her words about sitting together forever, and called her an idiot and Pu Yu.

Pu Yu began college at Dongzhou University, found work at a bookstore and steady income from writing, while remaining attached to the person who had disappeared from her life. She met Xu Lang, a former classmate connected to her school's financial aid nominations, but left their aid connection unresolved.

• Pu Yu arrived at Dongzhou University, settled into her dorm with Lin Jia and Chen Sisi, and sent unanswered messages to someone she missed.
• At the freshman opening ceremony, Xu Lang recognized Pu Yu as a former middle-school classmate and offered to help her, but they parted before exchanging contact details.
• Pu Yu recalled that she and a boy from Class One had been nominated for financial aid, but could not confirm whether Xu Lang was that boy.
• After failing to find suitable listed jobs, Pu Yu got a flexible shelving job at a bookstore and later secured a monthly column with the Nanhua Newspaper.
• Liang Yanxiu, president of the university's Literary Society, met Pu Yu at the bookstore and invited her to consider joining; Pu Yu remained focused on the person she had lost.

Pu Yu received a larger-than-agreed financial aid payment and asked Cheng Siyi about it, then joined the Literary Society to pursue opportunities for her writing. At her first society event, she listened as writer Meng Song spoke about conveying emotion in writing.

• Pu Yu declined her roommates’ National Day hiking trip because she planned to work, study, and write.
• Pu Yu collected a 5,000-yuan remittance and called Cheng Siyi, who explained that the extra support was for first-year expenses.
• Pu Yu noticed that Xu Lang had not collected his financial aid.
• Pu Yu joined the Dawn Literary Society after learning that members could publish work and receive payment for contributions.
• Pu Yu attended a Literary Society event where Meng Song discussed writing emotion through simple narratives.

Pu Yu wrote “Rewind,” a piece about the boy she loved, and it was published in Wild Grass. When Xu Suiran and Song Jinnian visited her in Dongzhou, Pu Yu said she was moving forward while keeping a place for him in her heart, and accepted their early birthday gifts to open on her birthday.

• Meng Song assigned his students to write about love without using the word “love,” and Pu Yu wrote about the boy who had left her.
• Pu Yu’s piece, “Rewind,” was selected for Dongzhou Poetry Pages, and Meng Song bought the rights to publish an expanded version in Wild Grass.
• Pu Yu messaged the boy that “Rewind” had been published and was about him, wishing he could see it.
• Xu Suiran and Song Jinnian visited Pu Yu at her café, and Xu Suiran told her that students at her university admired her writing.
• Song Jinnian asked whether Pu Yu was still waiting for the boy, and Pu Yu said she was moving forward while keeping an empty place for him in her heart.
• Xu Suiran and Song Jinnian gave Pu Yu early birthday gifts and asked her to wait until her birthday to open them.

On her birthday and New Year’s Eve, Pu Yu opened Xu Suiran’s handmade photo album and Song Jinnian’s star projector, which brought back memories of Yuan Su. As the new year began, she told Yuan Su how much she missed him and asked him to hold her again.

• Pu Yu said goodbye to Xu Suiran and Song Jinnian at the station, then messaged Yuan Su that she was living her life properly.
• On December 31, Pu Yu waited until just before midnight to open Xu Suiran’s birthday gift: a handmade album filled with high school photos and affectionate notes.
• Pu Yu opened Song Jinnian’s gift, a telescope-shaped star projector, and remembered watching the stars with Yuan Su on North Mountain.
• Pu Yu photographed the projected stars and messaged Yuan Su to wish him a happy birthday, calling him a liar and telling him she missed him.
• Pu Yu asked Yuan Su, in one final message, to hold her again.

On his birthday and New Year's night, Yuan Su rushed to the care home after Lu Zhen became distressed and heard that Yu had taught her to remember and hug him on his birthday. After reading Yu's messages, he typed that he missed her, but deleted the reply and switched off his phone.

• Yuan Su finished repairing a truck and read Pu Yu's piece in Wild Grass before the care home called about Lu Zhen.
• Yuan Su rode to the care home, where Lu Zhen quieted when she saw him and hugged him to wish him a happy birthday.
• Lu Zhen told Yuan Su that Yu had repeatedly taught her to remember his birthday and hug him, leaving him overwhelmed and crying in her lap.
• After Lu Zhen fell asleep, Yuan Su turned on his phone and read Yu's birthday message and request for another hug.
• Yuan Su typed that he missed Yu, deleted the unsent message, and turned off his phone.

Pu Yu spent winter break in Whitebank Town, where reminders of Yuan Su deepened her longing for him. On New Year’s Eve, she visited North Mountain to use their hidden telescope, but under a starless sky she fell on the dark path and broke down while trying to call him.

• Pu Yu returned to Whitebank Town, and Li Suhua defended her when Aunt Wang asked whether she was seeing anyone.
• Pu Yu helped Li Suhua prepare for the holiday and felt distressed when she saw Yuan Su’s former shop had become a milk tea store.
• Pu Yu went alone to North Mountain on New Year’s Eve, assembled the telescope, and found that clouds hid all the stars.
• Pu Yu wished Yuan Su safety in a New Year’s message, then fell on the dark mountain steps when her phone light went out.
• Pu Yu called Yuan Su, heard that his number was switched off, and cried as she remembered Sui Sui’s song and wished she could see him again.

Pu Yu continued building her writing career and succeeding at university while waiting for the boy who sponsored her studies. After returning to Whitebank Town and celebrating Xu Suiran and Song Jinnian’s relationship, she resolved to repay her sponsor, wondering whether he would come back once the debt was paid.

• Pu Yu declined a publisher’s offer to compile her writing into a book, and Professor Meng Song advised her to broaden her themes without letting longing become a cage.
• Pu Yu counted fifteen remittance slips from her sponsor and spoke with Xu Suiran, who planned to share a happy secret when they met over summer break.
• Pu Yu returned to Whitebank Town, where Xu Suiran told her that she and Song Jinnian were together after he confessed his long-standing feelings.
• Pu Yu spent the summer caring for Li Suhua, who encouraged her to keep the boy in her thoughts while looking after herself.
• After her second year began, Pu Yu earned top marks, published more articles, and won national and university scholarships, but continued working to save money to repay her sponsor.

Pu Yu took over the Literary Society while rejecting Liang Yanxiu’s confession and reaffirming her decision to wait for Yuan Su. As she led a discussion about hometowns, a first-year student’s account of receiving educational aid caught her attention.

• Liang Yanxiu offered Pu Yu the Literary Society presidency and confessed his feelings, but she accepted the role and told him she was waiting for Yuan Su.
• Pu Yu rejected Lin Jia’s advice to move on, saying that Yuan Su’s love and protection made her wait worthwhile even if they never met again.
• Pu Yu took charge of the Literary Society and led its members in preparing a hometown feature for the campus magazine.
• Su Xiao told the group that an educational aid program sent funds directly to her school, and Pu Yu stopped writing when she heard this.

Pu Yu discovered that the anonymous financial aid she had collected for nearly two years had been sent by Yuan Su, who had sacrificed his future to support her. After learning he was in Rinzhou, she kept the truth from him and began packing to go north and find him.

• Pu Yu questioned her adviser about the unusual postal money orders and learned that formal financial aid was handled through banks or the school.
• Pu Yu examined her twenty-one remittance slips and realized they all came from Rinzhou, identifying Yuan Su as the sender.
• Pu Yu called Cheng Siyi, who confessed that Yuan Su had promised to cover Pu Yu’s tuition and living expenses after the original sponsor withdrew.
• Pu Yu asked Cheng Siyi to keep her discovery from Yuan Su so he would not flee farther away, and Cheng Siyi agreed.
• Pu Yu searched for Rinzhou on her phone and packed warm clothes, resolved to travel north and find Yuan Su.

Pu Yu left school and traveled to Rinzhou to find Yuan Su, accepting the risk to her studies because she could not bear to lose him without trying. After arriving exhausted and spending a cold night at a cheap inn, she waited outside the post office listed on his remittance slip.

• Pu Yu persuaded Teacher Chen to grant her leave, promising to return before finals.
• Pu Yu bought a standing ticket and endured a sleepless, uneaten sixteen-hour train ride to Rinzhou.
• Pu Yu used the address on Yuan Su's remittance slip to reach the Zhongshan District Post Office after it had closed.
• Pu Yu spent the night in a freezing, shabby inn and remembered a night she had once shared with Yuan Su.
• Pu Yu checked out in the morning without breakfast and waited outside the post office.

Pu Yu traced the anonymous remittances to the west-side industrial area and searched for Yuan Su through the snow. She finally found him in a factory yard, and the two saw each other again after more than two years apart.

• Pu Yu asked a post office worker whether the remittance slips came from the same person, and the worker recognized Yuan Su as the polite young man who came each month and deliberately signed with his left hand.
• Pu Yu learned that Yuan Su usually came from the west side of town and searched more than a dozen factories for him.
• A restaurant owner warned Pu Yu that the industrial area was too vast and unsafe to search after dark, but Pu Yu continued looking.
• As Pu Yu approached a yard of parked semitrailers, she heard a worker call out to Yuan and recognized Yuan Su's voice.
• Yuan Su turned from his paperwork and saw Pu Yu standing at the gate as snow fell around them.

Pu Yu reunited with Yuan Su in Rinzhou after traveling over a thousand kilometers, and confronted him about the money he had secretly sent her. Their reunion ended with both of them breaking down over his sacrifices and his decision to keep her away from his hardships.

• Yuan Su found Pu Yu standing in the snow and urged her to come to his apartment, but hesitated before touching her suitcase because his hands were dirty from work.
• Pu Yu dropped the suitcase in protest, and Yuan Su picked it up and brought her into his tidy apartment behind the factory.
• Yuan Su warmed the room and offered Pu Yu hot water while she watched him scrub his hands.
• Pu Yu showed Yuan Su the payment records and asked whether he had sent her forty-seven thousand yuan; he denied it was anything more than ordinary financial assistance.
• Pu Yu accused Yuan Su of sacrificing his future to support her, and Yuan Su shouted that he had wanted to protect her education and keep her from his hardships.
• Pu Yu told Yuan Su she had never cared about his money and confessed through tears that she had not been doing well.

Pu Yu confronted Yuan Su about leaving her behind, and he apologized and explained that he had stayed to settle his father's debts rather than drag her into them. After she became weak from the emotional strain, he cared for her and promised not to leave, but a factory shipment called him away, and she insisted he handle it by phone.

• Pu Yu told Yuan Su how his departure had left her lonely and heartbroken, and Yuan Su pulled her into an embrace and apologized.
• Yuan Su explained that he had stayed to repay his father's debts and refused to involve Pu Yu in them.
• Pu Yu confronted Yuan Su about reading her messages without replying, then grew dizzy and weak.
• Yuan Su offered to buy food, but Pu Yu clung to his jacket, so he stayed and cooked her egg noodles.
• When someone called Yuan Su about an uncounted factory shipment, Pu Yu asked him to call and arrange it instead of leaving her.

Pu Yu refused to leave Yuan Su’s cramped room for a hotel because she feared he would disappear, and Yuan Su gave her his phone and ID as collateral before going to buy toiletries. He left her holding proof that he could not easily run away.

• Yuan Su called Nie Yang on speakerphone to reassure Pu Yu that he was staying nearby, then served her noodles until she finished the bowl.
• Yuan Su offered to take Pu Yu to a nearby chain hotel, but she refused, fearing he would abandon her there or vanish overnight.
• Pu Yu insisted she would stay in Yuan Su’s room and asked him to stay with her; he avoided promising that and initially tried to persuade her to leave.
• When Yuan Su took out his wallet, Pu Yu panicked, so he explained that he was only going to buy her toiletries and pressed her back onto the bed when she tried to follow.
• Yuan Su handed Pu Yu his phone and ID as collateral, promising he would take only a little cash and would not have enough money to buy a ticket.

Pu Yu tested whether Yuan Su would return by asking him to buy pink toiletries, then pleaded with him not to leave her alone for the night. Yuan Su gave in and stayed, teasing her that she had him wrapped around her finger.

• Pu Yu held Yuan Su’s old ID card and asked him to buy pink towels, slippers, and a toothbrush.
• Yuan Su returned within minutes with the pink items, and Pu Yu put the matching toothbrushes by the sink after throwing away his old one.
• Yuan Su changed the bedding and told Pu Yu to rest while he slept at the factory.
• Pu Yu blocked Yuan Su from leaving and said she did not want to be alone.
• Yuan Su gave Pu Yu the quilt and leaned close, laughing that she had him wrapped around her finger.

Pu Yu and Yuan Su shared a room during a snowstorm, with Yuan Su sleeping on the floor and reassuring her that he would not leave again. As Pu Yu asked about his past two years, Yuan Su described his hard work and a lonely night stranded near Changbai Mountain, ending by saying he was grateful she had been spared the cold.

• Yuan Su prepared a mattress on the floor and stayed in the room after Pu Yu made him promise not to leave.
• Pu Yu washed up and got into bed while Yuan Su dried her hair and made sure she was warm.
• Pu Yu admitted she was afraid he would disappear again, and Yuan Su promised he would never leave her.
• At Pu Yu's request, Yuan Su recalled delivering goods along Rinzhou's autumn roads and hauling timber near Changbai Mountain.
• Yuan Su told Pu Yu about being stranded in a truck beneath the stars and wondering whether she thought of him.
• Yuan Su said he was grateful the freezing wind had never touched Pu Yu's face.