Status Updates From 惘然記

Traces of love was just fantastic. Mr Mi silently struggling with the grief of losing/letting go of someone you had shared so much of your life with. Dunfeng stubbornly denying her feelings for Mr Mi. And yet, her true feelings come out subtly unbeknownst to her, but obvious to her aunt and Mrs Yang. A delicate short story that shows their true thoughts without spelling anything out. I really enjoyed this

‘Even after the leaves touched the ground they drifted a long way off.’

Reading traces of love right now

‘He could feel her shoulders through her layers of clothes, through the shoulder pads on his coat, and those on hers.’

‘With the woman of his past, it was rows and fights. With her, sometimes he had to say ‘I’m sorry’, sometimes ‘thank you.’ But that was all: thank you, I’m sorry.’

Jasmine tea: hmmmmmmmmmm idk how I feel about this

"But how sweet a fruit the 'suppose' must be, that people will sup and sup on it! A juicy fruit, like a lychee but without the pit, sparkling and light green; a fruit that hides the tart within the sweet."

Finished Jasmine Tea and The Golden Cangue, 2/3 stories in this collection.
Jasmine Tea shocked me, but what stayed most was how contemporary it felt: its portrayal of a man unable to accept rejection remains painfully relevant.
The Golden Cangue was a special pleasure. Chang translated it herself, so I often forgot it was English. Having read her in Chinese, I could still hear her distinctive voice in the prose.