Gu Nan, Millennium: A New Beginning

She is the immortal recluse who drank beneath the moon with Taibai in the flourishing Tang dynasty, a solitary traveler through a thousand years of history, and the tiny figure in Bai Qi's memories who once carried him a bowl of rice and beans. From witnessing the blood-red sunset at the Battle of Changping to watching the flames of Red Cliff turn the river red; from Chang'an's shattered walls during the An Lushan Rebellion to Bianjing's bloodcurdling lament in the Jingkang Incident, then on to the bustle of the streets in the Ming and Qing dynasties and the shattered landscape of modern times, Gu Nan has watched dynasties rise and fall from the sidelines. She has lived through the heartbreak of countless friends and family being torn away, yet has always held close the warmth of that bowl of rice and beans from when she first met her master.

The wine jars empty and fill again; old friends come and go. Only she drifts on through the river of time, bearing the marks of the ages. When the last embers of war finally settle, she steps onto familiar yet strange modern streets and softly murmurs to Bai Qi, who passed away a thousand years ago: