be a father to someone, you scoundrel!"The old man was seething with anger, nowhere to vent it. Thinking of his precious granddaughter suffering in the operating room filled him with heartache, he wis...Ting Lan was about to close her notebook when she saw, on the last page, a single line of elegant script:

Some flowers bloom high up in the trees.

Tinglan recognized these characters. They were a line from the poem "Bride" by the poet Hai Zi. The poem starts with:

and many days after that

Many farewellsnd strange.That face was sharply defined, with taut skin and resolute eyes. He called her name urgently yet tenderly, his palm, rough with callouses, landing on her cheek, a sensation that was both co...