Morning light remains

 　　I. Prologue

　　Xia Chen first met Shang Yicun at the junior high graduation ceremony. Shang Yicun
　　was speaking on stage as a student representative. Her fair skin was bathed in the soft orange light, her lips moved gracefully, showing no nervousness.
　　After her speech, thunderous applause erupted. However, Xia Chen's applause was absent. She remained aloof, observing coldly. Her delicate face was expressionless, like a finely crafted puppet whose strings had been broken, rendering her motionless and silent. "
　　It was supposed to be Xia Chen speaking, wasn't it? What's so great about the principal's daughter? She's the top student in the entire province! Besides, her father could buy the whole school and give it to her as a toy. What's so great about that!"
　　Xia Chen thought arrogantly.
　　Shang Yicun knew Xia Chen. Before Xia Chen came to the school, she was the top student in the entire grade, the school beauty, the most admired person. But since Xia Chen arrived, everything seemed to have changed.
　　And so, in the hearts of the two girls, they regarded each other as their most hated rivals.
　　In high school, they went to the same school. So the whole campus knew that Xia Chen was the top student in the science class, and Shang Yicun was the top student in the humanities class.
　　Both were such exquisite girls, yet they had never met face-to-face, only heard of each other.
　　They heard her name was Xia Chen.
　　They heard her name was Shang Yicun.
　　II. "I leave myself
　　" "Trading innocence for the time of a cigarette,
　　I leave myself,
　　like the emptiness left behind by a weary bird returning home,
　　quietly and silently,
　　deeply believing in the separations of the world,
　　therefore we rely on each other."
　　This was Xia Chen's favorite song; she didn't know it was also Shang Yicun's favorite.
　　Their face-to-face encounter was also because of this song.
　　That day was early summer, the weather slightly warm. Xia Chen walked along the tree-lined path on campus, humming this song. Shang Yicun followed behind her, unaware that the person in front was Xia Chen.
　　Hearing this familiar melody, unable to contain her excitement, she realized this song wasn't very popular, yet people actually listened to it. So, disregarding her pride, Shang Yicun went over and patted Xia Chen on the shoulder.
　　"Hi, girl! Do you like this song too?" Xia Chen turned her head and glanced at Shang Yicun, then at the slender hand resting on her shoulder.
　　"Do we know each other?" The girl's eyes were misty, making Shang Yicun unsure if she was being addressed.
　　"No... I don't know you... I, I'm excited." Shang Yicun awkwardly withdrew her hand and bowed apologetically.
　　"Xia Chen~~~" Someone suddenly called out Xia Chen's name, greeting her in a fawning manner.
　　"You are... Xia Chen?" Shang Yicun tugged at Xia Chen's backpack.
　　Xia Chen frowned in disgust. Another person trying to curry favor with her.
　　"Who are you?"
　　"I'm Shang Yicun."
　　"Ah...?" Memories flashed back instantly. So, this was the rival she had been holding a grudge against for three years ago. Not bad looking at all.
　　"You're Xia Chen! Xia Chen! Do you also like listening to 'I Leave Myself'?" The girl asked excitedly, as if they were old friends.
　　"Hmm...it's alright. I quite like it."
　　Xia Chen was a science student, Shang Yicun was an arts student—one calm as still water, the other fiery passionate.
　　Xia Chen listened to Shang Yicun ramble on about a bunch of useless things with lukewarm enthusiasm. Finally, Shang Yicun summed it up in one sentence:
　　"Then—let's be good friends!"
　　She really wanted to swat the person in front of her with an electric mosquito swatter.
　　Her lips twitched, and she was speechless.
　　Years later, when Shang Yicun recalled her recklessness, she felt a little embarrassed, but mostly grateful.
　　Thank you for having such courage back then.
　　Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having such courage to be friends with Xia Chen.
　　Really.
　　Thank you so much.
　　III. Summer Solstice
　　While Shang Yicun was crying her eyes out reading Guo Jingming's novel *Summer Solstice*, Xia Chen was tackling a five-star chemistry problem next to her.
　　Sobbing, wiping her nose, excitedly turning pages.
　　She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't take it anymore!
　　"Shang! Yi! Cun! You better shut up!" They were now so close that she could tell the other to get lost.
　　"Look, look, it's really... really... so touching!" Her voice was hoarse and sad.
　　In an instant, Xia Chen's heart softened. She ruffled Shang Yi Cun's hair and whispered words of comfort.
　　"Do you think... will we become like this in the future?" Shang Yi Cun asked, choking back tears.
　　"Like what?"
　　"Like the ending of *Summer Solstice*?"
　　"I haven't read it, how would I know?"
　　"..."
　　Many years later, Xia Chen went to the bookstore and bought *Summer Solstice*. It turned out that the ending was that the two best friends parted ways.
　　Just like Li Xia and Yu Jian, just like Xia Chen and Shang Yi Cun.
　　In the end, they still parted.
　　That was the saddest and most magnificently destroyed youth she had ever witnessed.
　　In the end, they still parted.
　　They still parted.
　　IV. Vows
　　Xia Chen and Shang Yi Cun both got into Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
　　Shanghai, a glamorous and wealthy city.
　　They had promised to start a business together after graduating from university, to build their own empire together.
　　However, Xia Chen received an offer from Microsoft in the United States.
　　She ultimately betrayed their promise.
　　When Shang Yicun saw her off at the airport, her face was pale.
　　"I'm leaving. You... take care," Xia Chen said softly, then turned and went through security without
　　looking back. Only when Xia Chen was completely out of sight did Shang Yicun's tears fall.
　　You... also... take good care of yourself.
　　I wonder what life will be like without you.
　　It will be lonely.
　　Just like what Li Xia said in "Rush to the Dead Summer": "I'm like a lonely puppet, having lost the other puppet that was inseparable from me. From then on, I can't perform, I can't move, abandoned in a corner covered in dust, despairing in loneliness, grieving in despair, and then continuing to miss you endlessly."
　　"Take good care of yourself in America. Be careful with your diet. We Chinese might find some of the food habits of foreigners a little unfamiliar. If you encounter any difficulties or feel wronged, just call me." Shang Yicun sent a text message to Xia Chen.
　　The plane flew into the clouds. Xia Chen gripped her phone tightly, silent, her expression sorrowful, desperately trying to hold back her tears.
　　Finally, it landed.
　　*Tick*.
　　It sounded just like the ticking of a clock.
　　V. To Our Most Beautiful Youth
　　Xia Chen settled in America, only returning to reunite with Shang Yicun during the Spring Festival.
　　While eating hot pot together, she would occasionally reminisce about her middle school, high school, and university years, and feel a pang of sadness.
　　In America, even with great difficulties, Xia Chen would think of Shang Yicun, her radiant smile that had once so brightly illuminated her otherwise ordinary youth.
　　Once, at a small dessert shop in America, the name roughly translated as "Morning Light Yicun," she remembered that time of her youth. She and Shang Yicun both loved going to a dessert shop near their school,
　　Morning Light—that was Xia Chen.
　　Dependence means still depending on something.
　　So, whenever Xia Chen felt sad and lonely, she would go to this dessert shop, as if she could taste all of her and her most beautiful youth in this dessert shop.