So I Married Him: An Anthology of Love Stories from the Times

Author: Mu Hong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: Lin Si Rong, before the age of ten, her name was not En Rong; what it was called no longer mattered. This new name was given by her father to commemorate her late mother. To others, the name held no significance, but Si Rong felt as though she carried the love of her parents—love that was hard to define. Si Rong, Si Rong, why could they call this name so effortlessly and naturally? It was clearly such a heavy name. Her father was always busy; was he always this busy, or did it only start after her mother left us? Si Rong couldn’t remember much anymore, only that she hadn’t seen her father in almost a week. Their hurried meetings never allowed for more than a few words, and the only thing she could clearly see was the increasing number of white hairs on her father’s temples. Besides the housekeeper, there was no one else in the house. The vast mansion often made Si Rong feel a sense of emptiness. She talked to her mother every day but couldn’t help but feel inexplicably angry at the silent mother in the photograph. Sometimes, her loneliness was overwhelming, and she would even blame the mother in the picture for always smiling so sweetly: "Your daughter, the daughter you cherished so dearly, is angry and heartbroken, yet you just keep smiling, saying nothing, not even helping me wipe away my tears." En Rong began to keep a diary, writing about her life in a tightly locked diary. This way, her mother could always smile sweetly at her from the desk, while the diary bore the sorrow and tears. The diary gradually became Si Rong’s closest confidante. She knew all of Si Rong’s secrets, even those Si Rong herself had yet to discover. After finishing her daily entry, Si Rong would habitually reread it and found that she had written the name of a person. This name had been unfamiliar to her before, whether to herself or to the diary. Si Rong suddenly felt a bit regretful of her impulsiveness—why hadn’t she torn the love letter to pieces right after opening it? Just because it was labeled "love letter"? Or because he had covered the envelope with pine needles? Si Rong thought that her regret now for not opening the envelope probably stemmed from Jiang Nan. If she had opened it back then, she would have known whether it was written by him. Si Rong liked his name. Yes, she knew she liked Jiang Nan’s name. But when school let out, she didn’t answer him. Why couldn’t she honestly answer such a simple question? Perhaps it was because of the letter labeled "love letter." But who could be sure that the letter was indeed written by Jiang Nan? Or was it that she herself hoped the writer of the letter was the cheerful boy standing before her, radiating sunshine-like brightness?
P4