The novel takes the tide of the times as the background and tells the story of Shen Yan and Lin Wanqiu's deep love and regret across the years. When Shen Yan, an educated youth, joined the team in Hongqi Village, he met Lin Wanqiu, who had a gentle Jiangnan temperament and was good at cooking delicious food with ordinary ingredients. The two gathered wild mushrooms and escaped from heavy rains together. In the years when supplies were scarce, they weaved a pure relationship with companionship and delicious food. Shen Yan had already planned a future in which he would bring Lin Wanqiu back to the city to stay together.
However, fate twists people. Shen Yan delayed his return to the city due to family problems, Hongqi Village suffered from drought, and Lin Wanqiu died of high fever after losing his father. After Shen Yan returned to the city, he could not forget it. He kept the old things related to Lin Wanqiu and opened a grocery store for forty years. In his later years, he returned to Hongqi Village and stayed beside the Lin family's dilapidated house, missing his old friend every day.
Before his death, Shen Yan asked that his ashes be buried next to Lin Wanqiu's grave in Jiangnan, fulfilling his promise of "no more separation". The story uses the miss of the two people to express the helplessness of personal fate in the torrent of the times. The pyrotechnic past and the final separation form a strong contrast, leaving endless sadness and regret, which also makes this deep love that spans half a life even more touching.
