short series

The Seventh Winter Since We Parted

share time: 2026-02-07 02:31:15

Lin Xiaoman goes to the old alley every Winter Solstice for sugar-fried chestnuts—a little habit from before her breakup with Gu Shiyan, who always complained the boss used too little sugar and insisted on two extra spoonfuls. On the seventh winter, the boss hands her a warm box and says, “That guy pays in advance every year, asking me to keep a double-sugar portion for you.” Pinching a cracked chestnut shell, Lin looks up and sees Gu Shiyan under the old wutong tree—wearing a navy coat, thinner than seven years ago, holding the gingerbread keychain she left in his apartment, his eyes as bright as the snowman’s they built together. Turns out Gu was diagnosed with leukemia back then; he lied about being “tired” to spare her the pain. Now recovered from a transplant, he’s saved seven years of sugar-fried chestnuts to say the words he hid: “I never left.”

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