[Explosive BE Warning · Strong Female Leads · Mutual Redemption] Her father beat her, and her family favored sons over daughters. He Shiqing wrapped herself in the hard shell of gender-neutral clothes, living like a prickly lone wolf by the Yellow River. Then she met Su Miaomiao. The hot sweet potato Su handed her melted the ice around her heart, and the fingertips that taught her to write became the only light in her darkness.
Her mother was her only source of warmth, but she couldn't shield her from her father's fists or the cold cruelty of a family that favored boys. Su Miaomiao's arrival showed her that a girl could be a light, and that girls could be comrades, each other's armor. They fought their way out of the shadow of domestic violence, tore a path through the mire of sexism, wore their scars like medals, and built a future fortress of their own over the abyss.
But fate was determined to crush that light. Su's mother died of leukemia, and the inherited curse latched onto Su Miaomiao. He Shiqing worked herself to the bone, hoping to buy her health, but Su went to her celebration banquet without telling her she was ill, then quietly faded away amid the lights of the Qinhuai River. He Shiqing went mad and split off Su's personality. Caught between reality and illusion, she had her secret exposed by an adversary, leapt from a high-rise, and later slashed her wrists in a bathtub…
This is the swan song of two girls, beginning with redemption and ending in destruction. The south wind cannot disperse the lanterns of years past, just as she can never bring back the girl who stood with her in the abyss, each the other's armor.
