Story Summary

“I was like a duckling taking its first steps—unsteady and drifting in a vast pond. The world before me was so dark I couldn’t find a way out, until you came into my life and became a warm light guiding me forward.”

After the passing of the beloved elderly owner of an independent bookstore, nineteen-year-old Du Riheng, a Taiwanese student studying in France, comes into contact through email with the owner’s grandson, Su Zhiwei.

Zhiwei’s kindness and warmth become a source of comfort for Riheng, who has always struggled to fit in with her peers and has spent her life stumbling through the loneliness of living abroad.

As their emails gradually turn into long conversations and quiet companionship, the two slowly become close friends. And somewhere along the way, another kind of feeling begins to blossom between them…

OC Ship

Du Riheng (Female Lead)

• Born on November 11, 1996.
• Nineteen years old at the beginning of the story; twenty-eight by the end (and now turning 30 in 2026).
• 155 cm tall.
• Kind, sincere, sensitive, emotionally overwhelmed, and prone to overthinking. She cries easily. Though shy, she is surprisingly straightforward when expressing affection. Usually very quiet and soft-spoken, but extremely talkative around people she trusts. Whenever she smiled, her eyes curved into soft crescent-shaped smiling eyes, and her hands are very small.
• Grew up in Taiwan and moved to France for university. She studies piano in a small town in central France while also attending programs in children’s music education and music support for preschool-aged and disabled children in nearby cities.
• She endured a difficult childhood and adolescence, especially during middle and high school, where she experienced bullying and social exclusion from peers. At twenty-six, she is finally diagnosed as autistic and having ADHD.
• Her handwriting is messy and uneven. She is highly sensitive to sound and light.
• She has naturally soft, fine hair with a slight brown tint that has never been dyed or permed. She always wears it in two tightly braided pigtails—neat and properly tied, never loosened for styling—and clips small pastel yellow duck hairpins onto them every day. Her eye colour is a deep reddish brown with a faintly visible dark center. She prefers pale blue clothing, and her wardrobe is filled with cute ryousangata fashion, as well as romantic vintage pieces with lace and ribbons. She mostly wears skirts and dresses, along with long sleeves and white tights year-round. Her lips are naturally rosy, and her cheeks often have a little bit of pink flush as well. She rarely wears makeup; even after learning a little, she keeps it minimal and soft, usually in pink tones. (In personal color analysis terms, she would probably be considered a cold Summer type.)
• She calls Su Zhiwei “Zhiwei-ge” (“Big Brother Zhiwei”).
• Her best friend is a violinist named Wang Lin.