Yes, the first time! The place where they first met—the place where Meng's attachment to Zhang Xiaohua and Zhang Xiaohua's longing for Meng began.
Two strangers, a man and a woman, had met by chance at that nameless ferry crossing.
That single accidental encounter had planted, in the hearts of two innocent people, a seed that demanded they depend on one another. It had been planted so deeply, so secretly, that only when they met again five years later did it gradually sprout. And once it sprouted, it burst with vibrant life, using all the longing they had felt for one another over those five years as fertilizer, allowing their emotions to multiply without restraint.
Perhaps this was not a season of harvest, yet nestled in Zhang Xiaohua's embrace as they stood on the bridge stretching out over the river, Meng tilted her head and watched the quietly flowing water. Unconsciously, she asked softly, "Xiaohua, what if my fishing hook hadn't caught you that day? Would you... not have come to know me?"
Zhang Xiaohua wrapped an arm around Meng's shoulders. Facing the setting sun as it scattered orange-red light across the flowing water, he said with absolute certainty, "No! You... were a fate bestowed upon me by Heaven. Even if your fishing hook had not caught me, I... would have drifted along this current, drifting and drifting to Dianchi Lake, then drifting and drifting to Jinghai Lake, until I drifted all the way to your side!"
"Xiaohua..." Deeply moved, Meng wrapped her arms around Zhang Xiaohua's waist from behind and lifted her little face. Smiling, Zhang Xiaohua lowered his head and deeply kissed Meng's cherry lips, each savoring the sweetness in their hearts.
The thatched cottage by the river remained as it had been. Few people seemed to come