After finishing her postgraduate entrance exams, Lin Wan set off on a graduation trip. Captivated by the beautiful scenery of Wengka Miao Village in southeastern Guizhou, she chased a butterfly, got lost along the way, and met Long Yan, a Miao village Gu master who lived alone in a wooden stilt house.
At their first meeting, Long Yan was aloof and solitary, yet he took in the lost Lin Wan for the night and gave her a calming sachet. The next day, he escorted her to the village gate, bought her silver butterfly earrings, and gave her a new pair of straw sandals. His attitude toward her quietly softened. The village's Tree-Worship Festival happened to be underway, and Lin Wan took part. During the ritual, Long Yan offered her blessed water and refreshing wild tea, then frankly told her, “You're different,” stirring feelings in her heart.
Yet a mysterious aura always seemed to surround Long Yan: the bamboo box decorated with totems in his wooden house, the bone beads meant to ward off evil, the strange incense burner, and the red cords on his straw sandals, matching those on Lin Xi's, all hinted at a complicated past. As they grew closer, Lin Wan found herself drawn to A Gu, but she also felt uneasy about the legends surrounding Gu and the depths in Long Yan's eyes. Amid the mysterious atmosphere of the Miao village, their relationship quietly moved toward an unknown future.
I hope that the strength of the male protagonist is his own strength to protect the people he loves and the village, and is not an incompetent and pathological possession that affects the heroine and grandma who want him to get better.