Xiangyu met Luheng when she was twelve years old. They both entered the same middle school and became desk mates. At that time, Xiangyu's parents had divorced and almost disappeared from her life, leaving her and her grandmother to rely on each other. Moving from the central part of the city where she grew up, leaving behind most of her friends, she settled in another district of the city. Her once cheerful and talkative demeanor became silent and gloomy. Except in front of her grandmother, she rarely smiled anymore.
Luheng was enrolled to the school as a student with sports talent, specializing in soccer as a left back. Although his grades were not excellent, he was always cheerful and full of smiles. On the first day Xiangyu met him, she drew a line down the middle of the desk and said to Luheng in a cold tone, "This side is yours, this side is mine. Don't cross the line." Lu Heng, with a slightly tanned face from outdoor activities, but radiant with his infectious smile, erased the line with an eraser from his pencil case. "I see, I won't cross the line. Even if you do, it's fine, there's no line here." Xiangyu turned away indifferently.
Xiangyu rarely initiated conversations, with Lu Heng often asking and answering his own questions beside her. Occasionally, Xiangyu would say a few words, prompting Luheng to become even more enthusiastic. Over time as desk mates, Xiangyu sometimes helped Luheng with his homework, and sometimes reminded him not to drink unboiled water after training. Lu Heng was probably the only person in the class whom Xiangyu considered as a friend. They got along like this.
There were many such little incidents. Once, when the teacher suspected Xiangyu's essay was plagiarized solely based on her age, the teacher called her to the office for education, saying, "At such a young age, do you not know you should study hard?" Xiangyu just stood there blankly, obediently listening. She felt so sad that she cried in the water cypress forest after class. The school, with nearly a hundred years of history, boasted a towering forest of water cypresses, a wisteria corridor, and various other plants, making it an aesthetically pleasing environment. But what good was the beauty if life had no improvement? Xiangyu thought, shedding tears alone.
Lu Heng found her, "Who bullied you? Tell me, I'll avenge for you." Xiangyu, her eyes still wet from crying, looked at Lu Heng and shook her head. This scene appeared countless times in the dreams of the young Lu Heng afterward, and he constantly blamed himself for not wiping away her tears back then. In the long years that followed, he worked tirelessly to wipe away her tears, just as he did when he was thirteen and wanted to wipe away the tears of the young Xiang Yu. Later, he found out the reason and secretly told Xiang Yu that he had gone to the teacher's appartement at night and smashed her window. "I avenged for you." Lu Heng awkwardly rubbed his head.
Xiangyu often stared out of the window lost in thought. During a self-study class, Lu Heng asked her what she was looking at, and Xiang Yu pointed to a solitary tree outside the window and said, "Look at that tree, standing there all alone with no companion, but there are many sparrows perched on it, like pine cones. So, the tree is not lonely anymore. That's why I call it the Sparrow Tree." They both stared at the Sparrow Tree in a daze. Of course, they were eventually called out to the corridor for punishment, but that day's sunset was exceptionally brilliant, casting a red glow on the sky, on the cheeks of the young, and in their hearts.
Xiang Yu particularly liked Doraemon, the time machine, the Anywhere Door, and a friend who loves you no matter how silly you are, a wish that would always be practiced. On Xiangyu's birthday, Lu Heng gave her a picture frame with his own drawing of Doraemon. "I drew many, many pictures, and this is the best one I think." Lu Heng then pulled out a thick stack from his backpack. "Otherwise, you can choose one yourself." "Just give them all to me," Xiang Yu took the stack of paper from Luheng's hand, lowered her head, and said, "I'm very happy, thank you." In fact, Xiang Yu also had her own Doraemon, accompanying her, never neglecting her, even if she didn't respond.