Xie Ning died, and thought Heaven had shown her mercy by letting her soul return home so she could say a proper goodbye to Zhao An. Instead, she was accused of murder, jealousy, scheming, infidelity, and treason, among other grave crimes, and Zhao An cast her aside.
Zhao An did not know she had been dead for fifteen days. Her body hung from a tree on a cliff, and it would take forty-nine days to rot away.
After overcoming every obstacle to find her, he remained beneath the tree, refusing to eat, drink, or sleep. He wanted to leave her a handful of earth, but in the end, he left nothing behind.
