A polished wooden hairpin was a token of his promise to her for a lifetime; a pot of wild chrysanthemums in full bloom was their temporary comfort from the wind and rain; half a piece of maltose soaked in blood was his last obsession before dying in battle. During the Hongwu period, there were raging wars and droughts all over the land. The love between Erya and Brother Chun struggled to grow in the troubled times, and was severely crushed by reality. The dependence on each other on the road to escape the famine, and the gentle promises in Chenzhou City were ultimately no match for the gongs of conscription and the iron hooves of the grass bandits. She suffered humiliation in the brothel and relied on the remaining warmth of her hairpin to survive; he fought bloody battles on the battlefield and died on the battlefield with the belief of returning home. When her body was buried in a mass grave and his bones were standing on the deserted beach, the broken hairpin and the pot of wild chrysanthemums became a bond that spanned life and death, telling the most heart-wrenching regrets and deep feelings in troubled times.
