Waiting for the Stars to Fall

In high school, Zhu Xingyao received a love letter every Friday morning. By the time she graduated, she had received more than eighty letters in total. She mistakenly believed these were written by Lu Ji, a handsome boy from the class next door, and replied with a letter of her own: I agree to be your girlfriend. Their relationship had barely begun when it was reported to the Academic Affairs Office. The dean gave them a three-hour lecture on ideological values in an attempt to separate them. As a result, Zhu Xingyao and Lu Ji became targets of isolation. Years later, during their high school reunion, Zhu Xingyao angrily brought up the incident. Drunk and frustrated, she cursed, “Even no...