This was a heartwarming story about the MC overcoming his difficult situation in life to find happiness and love. It's not a long one, only 65 chapters, but the author manages to pack a lot into those chapters. This was a heartwarming story about the MC overcoming his difficult situation in life to find happiness and love. It's not a long one, only 65 chapters, but the author manages to pack a lot of emotions into those chapters.
The story follows Tao Xi, a poor student from the mountainous area of Qingshui County who is sponsored to attend the far away prestigious Wenhua No. 1 High School after he places first in the exams. His class has already been livestreaming classes from Wenhua HS in an attempt to improve the quality of education in the rural areas. It was in the livestream that Tao Xi first saw the ML, Lin Qinhe, for the first time and was so inspired by him that he started studying harder for the chance to go to Wenhua HS. Once he gets there, he becomes tablemates with LQH and slowly they get closer as LQH helps him out not just with his studies but a lot of other difficulties as well.
**Warning: Spoilers Ahead**
First things first, I do think the premise is a little bit out there. Not only do they half fall in love with each other through livestreams and letters, but the whole complicated situation of TX being switched at birth and the real TX being raised by LQH’s family is something I found hard to wrap my head around. The way it’s written, LQH starts taking an interest in TX due to all the letters TX wrote him , but it doesn’t seem in line with LQH’s personality to even start reading those letters to begin with. Plus it’s out of character for him to do so much for a complete stranger, to the point of using his money to sponsor TX to come to Wenhua High.
But once you get past the weird premise, the rest of the story is gold. There are many heartbreaking moments where TX feels a lot of insecurity due to his situation, and somehow LQH always notices and does something discreetly to make him feel better. For example, when LQH needs to go for 2 weeks of math/physics training and he realizes TX is sad about him being gone for so long, he posts 1-2 pictures daily on his WeChat, visible only to TX, so that TX can see what he’s up to and feel better. Or when LQH notices TX is feeling down after meeting his foster dad at the school, and he figures out from the security footage what happened and gives the foster dad a job so that he stops bothering TX. There are so many instances of this, to the point that even before they confessed to each other LQH already felt like the perfect attentive boyfriend.
The other point I didn’t like was how the author handled Yang Duole’s character. She could’ve gone either way with it, by making him a good guy or a bad one, and by the end it was clear he’s a morally bad character who is out to screw TX. At first I was neutral on him, since it’s not his fault he got switched at birth, but as his true colors slowly came out and he kept asking LQH to stop hanging out with TX, I started dreading what would happen when he learns the truth of his birth, and sure enough, it wasn’t pretty. Trying to ruin TX’s future career by accusing him of plagiarism is a pretty bold move; I’m so glad TX was smart enough to take preventative measures and incorporate his own name into the drawing in morse code.
I was also a bit surprised by how little YDL’s character was in the story unless it was necessary. I guess the author tried to explain it by the fact that his body is weak so he wasn’t always able to attend school, but given that he and LQH are in the same class for two months, we really didn’t see much of their interactions. I thought the three of them would hang out more together, but it ended up being a two-person world with just TX and LQH most of the time. I would’ve liked to see how LQH treated YDL before TX came, cause most of their interactions we saw was more like a stern father lecturing YDL to not be spoiled rather than a doting older brother, which is how the author initially described their relationship. After TX came into LQH’s life, it almost felt like LQH dropped YDL super fast, which I found a bit odd if they had really grown up together like two real brothers.
Anyways, here are some of my favorite moments and scenes from the book:
LQH getting jealous when he finds out TX has a crush on someone and sternly tells him to not fall in love, on the first day that TX decides to earnestly pursue him XP
LQH did SO much work to help TX study, from recording the English questions on cassette tape to buying study materials for him to making him a custom study guide
LQH coming back early from his training to make it in time for the parent teacher conference, since he thought TX would be down as his parents wouldn't be able to make it
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When he was most embarrassed and planned to follow Guo Ping’s intention to spend his life in Taoxi Bay, it was Lin Qinhe who let him see the light. Just like people who had lived in the bottom of a well since they were young, they would crawl out when they saw the moon that occasionally emerged from the mouth of a narrow well. He even said to himself that even if his fate was buried in the mud, he would make himself good enough that he was qualified to enter the sky and became the star beside the moon.
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Lin Qinhe returned to his senses, smiled lightly, his eyes seemed to be softened by the moonlight. He slowly replied:
“No, it’s just watching a person walk very hard at night, I can’t help but want to illuminate him. He just wanted the person who rushed to him so hard to have a better, less hard life as he wished.
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He opened the lunch box, buried his head and ate, eating faster and faster, gorging on the food like someone who had been starving for days.
Only in this way could he control himself from breaking into that ward and loudly said to them:
I am Fang Sui’s son.
You should all love me.
I am also very uncomfortable, my heart hurts, and I’m living in pain. Why don’t you care about me?
How come no one has ever shed tears because of heartache for me?
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Awww TX was planning to confess via his comic. Too bad LQH beat him to it
"In tomorrow’s comic, the protagonists returned to the moon and the small meteorite.
Moon: Why have you been wandering in the universe?
Little meteorite: Because I lost my flight path.
Moon: With so many stars in the universe, why have you been here all the time?
Little meteorite: Because even if there are thousands of night stars, I only like this moon, ah."
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“Do you believe in the existence of parallel universes?”
Tao Xi grabbed the photo album in his hand and shook his head blankly.
Lin Qinhe was silent for a while, turned his head to look at him, the light under his eyes, which were always indifferent, flickered slightly, and when he spoke again his voice was a little dumb:
“I didn’t believe it before, but now I wish there was such a parallel universe. In that world, everything follows the original trajectory, you have always been by my side, we grew up together, and every year at Christmas, I would bring gifts to you, together with loved ones who love you, and say to our baby, happy birthday.”
Tao Xi’s eyelashes trembled violently. He firmly grasped the photo album in his hand, grasping the sixteen years of time, the sharp leather cover corner stabbed his palm, but he didn’t notice it.
He opened his mouth, but didn’t make a sound, as if he was mute. After working hard for a long time, he could only make a broken and small whimper.
Lin Qinhe looked at this person who was trembling and whimpering, his heart hurt like it was being pierced by a blunt knife. He wanted to pull the photo album with sharp corners out of Tao Xi’s hands, but Tao Xi held the photo album firmly in his arms, as if using all his strength.
Lin Qinhe had to stretch out his hand to hug Tao Xi, let him sit on his lap and gently hug him. He said with a dumb and hoarse voice:
“Sorry, I have missed you in this world for so many years, and owe you so many birthdays.”