It was a nice day in 2015. He came out of the metro, freshly arrived in Shanghai after a day-long flight. She met up with him there. She didn't immediately spot the charm in this sweaty, tired foreigner. He only had eyes for the can of coffee in her hands.

Of all things in the world to bring two people together, "Chinese bureaucracy" probably is somewhere on the bottom of the list. Nevertheless, the shared ordeal brought them closer together, and the time in between was spent talking. They found that even if they were from worlds half a globe apart, they had lots in common. After a few weeks, he asked her if she wanted to "try the boyfriend-girlfriend thing". She answered entirely in style: "...okay."

Now, more than four years later, we have decided this setup has worked so well that we we will upgrade it: from 13 july on, we will "try the husband-wife thing" instead!