Wu Xie Defeated the Wang Family, Yet Lost Everything

She never knew until the day she died that Xie Yuchen’s death was a lie. Clutching his coin, she stood until dawn, thinking she had to wait for the ending on his behalf. But she died protecting Li Cu from the Wang family’s blades. As she closed her eyes, she still hoped she would get to tell him, “We won.” She never even got to say, “I miss you.”

Wu Erbai had protected her for over twenty years, afraid she would follow in her mother’s footsteps. Yet he could only watch her fall into a pool of blood. Holding his daughter’s cold body, he cried like a fool for the first time. Later, he locked himself away in the courtyard filled with her scent and refused to answer even Wu Xie’s knocks. For the rest of his life, he had only memories to pierce his heart.

Xie Yuchen shed his disguise and rushed over, only to catch a lifeless body. He would never hear her call him “Xiao Hua” again, never eat the osmanthus cakes she brought him again. He never set foot on the opera stage again. The light in his eyes went out with her, and he spent the rest of his life consumed by guilt for failing to protect her.

Wu Xie defeated the Wang family, but lost everything: his younger sister was gone, his Second Uncle shut himself away, and Zhang Qiling died in the dragonfly mist. He went to Changbai Mountain for their ten-year reunion, only to wait beneath a blanket of snow and wind. He never even got to see Xiaoge one last time. Fatty stayed by the lake in Banai, no longer laughing or joking, his heart grown cold along with the people who had passed away.

No one had anywhere to voice their regrets. She never learned the truth or waited long enough to be with the one she loved. They couldn’t keep her safe and never got the chance to say, “Don’t go.” All that remained was a lifetime of pain, and memories to cling to as they struggled through each day.