In the third year of Yongxi, the impoverished scholar Shen Qingxian rescued the bloodied Su Wanyue, a celebrated courtesan, in a ruined temple. She was beautiful and prickly; he was proud and hidebound. Yet amid the misty rains of Jiangnan, a dangerous attraction took root.
He left for the capital to sit the imperial examinations and secure his future. To protect him, she was willing to return to the brothels and use herself as bait.
But after he passed the highest examination, he accepted the powerful minister’s offer by choosing to look the other way as she was framed. She became a condemned prisoner accused of treason, with all ten fingers broken and her face disfigured.
Three years later, he found her again in a border garrison.
She had been reduced to a mute servant, her face covered in scars, and was being wantonly abused by soldiers. Yet she clutched the faded sachet he had given her years ago.
“May we pass as strangers in the next life.”
Those were the last words she wrote in blood for him.
Only after he burned everything with his own hands did he finally understand:
Some love is destined to be proven only by ashes.
