The Seventh Year of Summer

Jiang Shouyan, seeking solace, traveled to Lisbon where he encountered a mixed-race man. Wild, free-spirited, and in great shape. He dragged his surfboard to Jiang Shouyan, who was sunbathing on the beach, and said in perfect Mandarin: “Chinese?” Jiang Shouyan later learned that he was his landlord. Cheng Zaiye’s property was exclusively rented to Chinese tourists and was always stocked with wine and fresh egg tarts. It was simply because he once had a chance encounter with a Chinese man outside a pastry shop. A few short meetings, yet the image remained etched in his mind for six years. Later, he would return to Lisbon for a few months every year. Until the seventh year of summer, whe...