Beneath the Magnolia Sky

Chapter 1: A Promise Under The Stars

In the quiet village of Lianhua, nestled between soft hills and lotus-filled lakes, time seemed to slow under the blooming magnolia trees. It was here, two children — Li Wei and Mei Lin — carved a promise into bark and memory.

Li Wei was twelve that spring, already thoughtful beyond his years. The only son of a respected herbalist, he was raised in silence and discipline, his world filled with the scent of dried roots and crushed petals. Mei Lin, eleven, was his opposite — spirited, fearless, with paint-stained fingers and laughter that echoed off temple walls. Her father was a struggling painter, and she lived in a world of color and imagination.

Their bond began one summer afternoon when Mei Lin fell from the magnolia tree. While other children laughed, Li Wei quietly approached and bandaged her scraped knee using herbs he carried in a pouch. From that day forward, she followed him everywhere — chattering endlessly while he listened with a small smile.

They met every day beneath the magnolia tree near the riverbank, a secret place hidden from the eyes of disapproving adults. Mei Lin would draw the blossoms while Li Wei read aloud from his medical scrolls. It was here, under the starlit sky of a festival night, that they made a promise.

“When we grow up,” she said softly, lying on the grass beside him, “will you still be with me?”

He turned to her, serious as always. “Yes. I’ll find you, no matter where you go.”

She reached out her pinky. “Promise?”

He nodded and linked his finger with hers. “Even if the stars disappear, I’ll still find you.”

But the universe does not honor childish vows without trials.

That autumn, a bitter feud between their families over land broke out. Mei Lin’s family, already struggling, was humiliated in the village. Rumors spread like fire. Her parents, desperate to escape shame, sent her away overnight — to France, with relatives she had never met. There were no goodbyes. No time. Only a letter, meant for Li Wei, that never reached his hands.

He returned to the tree the next morning. And the next. For months. But she never came.

Years passed. Mei Lin built a life far away, but her heart remained in that village, under that magnolia sky. Li Wei, devastated by her sudden disappearance, buried himself in his studies. By twenty-five, he had become one of the youngest doctors in the country — and the secret CEO of a powerful medical company. But even with all his achievements, one part of him had never healed.

The boy who once bound her wounds with herbs had become a man who cured others, but could not mend his own heart.

He still returned to that magnolia tree once a year, always alone.

Not knowing that soon — after thirteen long years — fate would bring her back.

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