Poplar, Ferry Me Across

He Xianyu gets into a car accident in Lijiang and meets Ning Che, a man with a bandit's swagger. She travels with him, and on the bumpy Yunnan-Tibet Highway, gradually glimpses the secrets he hides behind the mask of a drug trafficker.

One is a researcher struggling against academic corruption; the other is an undercover agent walking a knife's edge. They clash on the road and save each other in desperate straits. He does everything he can to push her away, afraid his darkness will taint her. After he leaves, she comes to understand the peace he bought with his life.

She finally understands that some people are like desert poplars: even if they die in the shifting sands, they will still shield others from the darkness.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.