In the spring of 1922, the eldest daughter of the Gu family fell into the water and was rescued by Shen Yanzhi. The young man pressed his family’s heirloom jade pendant into her palm. “Keep it. It’ll be my betrothal gift someday.” Thirteen years later, they met again in Shanghai, where he had become the warlord’s prospective son-in-law. On a rainy night, she smashed the pendant. “Young Master Shen has climbed to a higher branch. Why bother about whether an ant like me lives or dies?” She burst into the Shen family’s warehouse late at night, only to find him red-eyed as he studied the battle plans. “Trust me for ten days,” he said, kissing away her tears. “I’ll turn this dirty game upside down.” Amid a hail of bullets, he shielded her as they fought their way out. Blood soaked his suit. “If I die, who’ll protect you as you finish the revolution?” On the night of the Battle of Shanghai, in an air-raid shelter among the ruins, she said, trembling, “If we survive, I’ll marry you. I only ask that the breeze and the moon bear witness.” He kissed the bloodstain on her forehead. The jade pendant in his arms had split in two. “All right. When it’s whole again, I’ll put it on your ring finger myself.”
