Su Yunyu was once a young lady from a prestigious family, gentle and refined. One autumn in her youth, she first met Song Jingming beneath the eaves. The young man was then dressed in plain clothes but full of ambition, handsome and upright. One glance left her spellbound, and she quietly hid a lifetime of affection in her heart, never speaking of it.
Three years slipped by in a flash. On a bright spring day, they met again. With the breeze and moonlight soft around them, feelings quietly blossomed between them. They circled each other tentatively, admiring each other in silence, and fell deep into a youthful, uncertain intimacy, never realizing how the other felt. Their longing remained close, yet unspoken.
But in a chaotic age of power struggles and shifting fortunes, no one could control what fate would bring. One day, turmoil erupted at court, and the Lu family was dragged into the vortex of political infighting. The whole clan fell, and the blossoms that once graced their grand estate were scattered to the mud.
From then on, Su Yunyu fell into the mire, enduring hardship as she drifted from place to place. She hid among the common people and vanished without a trace.
Meanwhile, Song Jingming weathered the ups and downs of officialdom, maneuvering carefully through the intrigues of court until he became a minister with power over the realm. For years, he searched across the land, traveling north and south in pursuit of the woman he'd lost, but found no trace of her. Only his unyielding obsession remained, suspended in the passing years.
Years later, they happened to meet again in a crowd. She had endured the elements and was worn by hardship; he held high office, stern and dignified. Time and circumstance had changed them both, and a gulf as vast as the clouds and earth now lay between them. He failed to recognize that the destitute woman before him was the one he'd first fallen for all those years ago.
After several twists and turns, they finally recognized each other. But the hierarchy of the court, the gulf between their families, and the constraints of society stood in their way. In the end, their love could not withstand the rules of the political world or the disparity in their stations.
Caught between impossible choices, Su Yunyu buried her feelings and quietly left without saying goodbye, leaving him to wait in vain year after year, consumed by longing.
