The Heavenly Dao fell into chaos, and the land was thrown into turmoil.
She had only finished half her wedding dress, and the season for the ginkgo blossoms he had promised her hadn't even arrived, when the flames of war reached the city gates. What of their phoenix-and-luan pendants, their vows of eternal devotion? It was all bullshit! In the end, she sank into the snow and dance of Helan, becoming a handful of ash among the dust and ruins.
Her A Mu was gone.
The man who had promised to marry her hadn't even left a whole body behind. Her heart throbbed with pain. How could this possibly be a dream?
The ginkgo leaves turned yellow again.
Eight years later, he finally appeared before her, but he looked at her as if she were a stranger.
"So you forgot..." She lowered her head and smiled, tears falling onto the tips of her shoes. "That's fine, too."
When fireworks burst over the ancient town of Baiyi, she finally knew it was him.
The way he grabbed her and ran up the city tower was exactly the same as in their previous life.
She held him tight, as if embracing a dream she had lost and found again.
This time there would be no evacuation, no war. She thought...
But fate sneered once more.
When a white shroud covered his head, his fingers gripped the ring until his knuckles turned blue. He would never get the chance to ask, "Will you marry me?"
Later, he went to Lanmo Town and opened the door to her childhood home.
Dust drifted through the light like a late-arriving snowfall.
In the sketchbook, "him" wore ancient robes and turned to smile beneath a ginkgo tree.
But every one of those pictures had been drawn before they met.
In the darkness, he curled up beside the bed, the crumpled pages cutting into his palm.
"...So I was only a shadow."
They had made so many promises to each other.
Neither of them had expected life to end so soon.
