Wu Wanjun knew that Lin Tianxin was afraid of Lu Ye and even disliked him, so she felt she needed to boost her son’s image a bit and lessen Tianxin’s fear.
Lin Tianxin looked up curiously. “I do Mom, tell me.”
She actually didn’t know any of Lu Ye’s embarrassing stories and felt a bit eager to hear them.
Wu Wanjun seemed to have opened a floodgate. “When he was in elementary school, he wet his pants once. He was so embarrassed that he sat in his seat the whole day and didn’t dare go out to play. He only went home after school when everyone had left.
He even threw the pants away and forbade us from ever bringing it up.”
Just imagining Lu Ye wetting his pants made Lin Tianxin find it a bit funny.
Hmph, he better not bully her in the future if he did, she’d expose his embarrassing story.
“When you first started university, he saved three months of allowance and asked someone to bring you a tin of Shanghai-made cold cream. He hid it at the bottom of his wardrobe, but by the time I found it, it had already expired. When I asked why he didn’t give it to you, he blushed and said, ‘I was afraid she’d think I’m uncultured.’ You tell me what girl doesn’t like something sweet and fragrant?”
Lin Tianxin couldn’t help but laugh, picturing Lu Ye blushing and hiding the cream. Her heart felt warm and soft.
“Do you know the funniest part?” Wu Wanjun leaned in, lowering her voice like she was sharing a secret. “His comrades tried to set him up with someone, and he stiffly said, ‘I already have a wife.’ When they asked who, he just stood there grinning foolishly and finally said, ‘Anyway… it’s her.’ After that, the whole regiment knew he had someone in his heart, but no one had ever seen her.”
She poked a hole in the shoe sole with an awl and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think he’s silly? If he likes someone, he should just pursue her openly. Instead, he keeps everything bottled up, simmering his feelings like porridge so thick it won’t thin out, yet still afraid of scalding you.”
Lin Tianxin twisted the thread in her fingers, her fingertips growing warm. So all those years she knew nothing about, Lu Ye’s feelings had been so deep and so clumsy.
“Mom, he…” she wanted to say something, but didn’t know where to begin.
“He’s just a stubborn mule!” Wu Wanjun set the shoe sole down and patted her hand. “But once this mule sets his heart on someone, he’ll love them with everything he’s got. Don’t be fooled by how rough he seems when it really matters, he’d give you his life.”
Moonlight shimmered in the smile lines at Wu Wanjun’s eyes as she suddenly leaned closer with a playful look. “Honestly, before he left last night, he told me to keep an eye on you make sure you eat breakfast and don’t go hungry. The way he looked, it was like he’d lost his soul. If not for the urgent mission, he probably would’ve circled the house three times before leaving.”
Lin Tianxin’s face instantly flushed red. She lowered her head, pretending to sort the thread, but her ears quietly perked up to listen.
“Anyway,” Wu Wanjun tied a knot at the end of the thread and pulled it tight, “that boy may not have much, but his heart is real. Take your time and see you’ll find it richer than your dad’s sweet and sour ribs.”
Lin Tianxin gazed at the stone path in the courtyard lit by moonlight, the corners of her lips lifting slightly.
So Lu Ye’s love had long been like this moonlight quietly shining on her for many years.
After chatting with Wu Wanjun for quite a while, Lin Tianxin finally returned to her room to sleep.
The old residence in the military compound had a room for them it used to be Lu Ye’s room, but after renovations, it had become warm and cozy.
When Lin Tianxin pushed open the door, the night breeze slipped in through the half-open window, carrying the fresh fragrance of gardenias from the yard.
The room was unlit. Moonlight filtered through the white curtains, casting delicate silver patterns on the floor and illuminating a familiar wooden box on the bedside table.
It was an old camphorwood box, its edges worn smooth. She had seen it earlier while tidying up and assumed it was one of Lu Ye’s old belongings, so she hadn’t touched it.
Now, drawn by curiosity under the moonlight, she stepped closer. The moment her fingers touched the surface, she caught a faint camphor scent mixed with a trace of sweetness strangely similar to the cold cream Wu Wanjun had mentioned.
After hesitating for a moment, she lifted the lid.
Inside, there were no complicated items just a stack of letters tied with red string and a small tin box. The tin had a faded image of the Shanghai Bund printed on it the same packaging as that old cold cream. The lid wasn’t fully closed, and that faint sweet scent drifted from within.
Lin Tianxin picked up the tin and gently opened it. The cream inside had long hardened into a waxy texture, its color slightly dulled, but it still showed its original pale whiteness.
She recalled Wu Wanjun’s words “saved three months’ allowance” and “afraid she’d think he’s uncultured.” Her nose stung slightly as her fingers brushed the cool metal, as if she could feel the careful hesitation Lu Ye must have had when he hid it.
Then she looked at the letters. The envelopes were simple kraft paper, with no sender’s name only a small sun drawn in the lower right corner.
She took out the top one. The paper had yellowed with age, and the handwriting was strong yet carried a hint of youthful restraint.
“Today I ran five kilometers in training twenty seconds faster than last time. The squad leader praised my progress. It reminded me of what you once said that you like people who work hard. I wonder if you’ve met someone more hardworking now?”
“A comrade gave me some milk candy it’s very sweet. I wanted to save it for you, but by the time I get leave, it’ll probably have melted. Next time, if I get to see you, I’ll bring you the best ones. I just need to figure out how to give them to you.”
“Someone in the regiment asked who the girl in my heart is. I didn’t say. I’m afraid if I do, you’ll think I’m being presumptuous. Lin Tianxin, I feel like… I can’t wait for you to take the initiative anymore, but I’m also afraid of scaring you.”
As she read letter after letter, they were filled with quiet longing no fancy words, just day after day of care: the snacks she liked, her fear of the dark, her wish to study in the south before college exams, even the time she scraped her knee as a child and cried that she wanted someone to protect her.
He remembered so many things she herself had nearly forgotten.
The “strangeness” and “fear” she once felt behind them had been years of silent watching.
Her hands trembled slightly as she held the letters. She thought of Lu Ye’s usual rough and unruly demeanor, the awkward way he looked at her, and the message he had left before departing “make sure she eats breakfast.”
Only then did she truly understand what Wu Wanjun meant by “simmering love into porridge, so thick it won’t dissolve.”
Outside, the moonlight grew brighter, casting a warm glow through the curtains onto her face.
She carefully put the letters back, closed the tin, and returned the camphorwood box to its place as if nothing had been touched.
But somewhere in her heart, something had quietly changed.
The fear and resistance she once felt toward Lu Ye were gradually replaced by a soft warmth like the faint fragrance of gardenias in the courtyard, gently spreading in the night.