“Long ago, when I left, the willows drooped. Now that I return, snow and sleet fall.” Look, the white snow blankets every branch, yet you and I can never meet again.
Liu Yiyi: “Long ago, when I left, the willows drooped.” Beautiful as jade, graceful as a willow, she is one of the rare jewels of her time, born into an age of turmoil. Though she has never suffered the hardships of ordinary life, she is still upright and noble, with a heart that reaches far beyond herself.
Du Annian: his name means “peace through the years,” yet peace was never within his reach. In an era when China was oppressed, he resolves to sacrifice himself and save his country with the strength of his youth.
In the early years of the Republic, the world is in turmoil. Across China, misery is everywhere and the people are barely able to survive. Where can this vast nation turn?
He meets her in the prime of his youth. She knows him, understands him, and stays by his side through the years. Faced with someone as wonderful as her, he knows he must not, yet still falls deeply in love.
With the nation and its people at stake, how can they indulge in romance? In the end, he gives himself to his country in his youth. His life belongs to the nation, and he can never give himself to her.
That unspoken affection ultimately becomes no more than a drop in the ocean, yet in the young man’s heart, it blossoms into a radiant flower.
The willows droop, and peace remains out of reach. Peace has finally arrived, yet it was never his to see. In another life, may rivers run clear and seas be calm; in another life, may we share every day and every night.
