Old Stories from Jiangning

Republican-era tragic romance | Happy ending | Redemption amid war | Both leads are romantically inexperienced (All characters and events are fictional! Please do not connect them to historical or real-life events!) She is Jiang Lingyi, a celebrated Shanghai socialite whose family has fallen on hard times, leaving her all alone. He is Xu Qingyue, a gifted pilot whose life hangs in the balance. He doesn’t dare speak of love. Childhood sweethearts who grew up together, he crossed the ocean to serve his country, while she saw him off at the docks with a pocket watch concealing their last photograph together. Three years later, he returned after completing his studies, now the finest fighter pilot around. But he didn’t dare honor their engagement. There were too many war widows in the air force compound, and he had no idea how long he would live. He wrote to tell her, “Don’t wait for me,” never knowing that her family had already been destroyed and both her parents were dead. He took her in when she had nowhere else to go, protecting her in the military compound under the name of “cousin,” yet never daring to cross the line. She waited three years, only for him to push her away. But she didn’t know that her name filled his farewell letters. Before every mission, he looked at their photograph in the pocket watch and said, “Lingyi, wait for me to come back.” With war raging and life and death uncertain, everyone thought he was dead. She plunged into the mountains, determined to bring him home. They all said there was no point trying to save air force pilots, but she was determined to learn first aid and nursing, so she could save him if he was ever wounded. He was afraid she would become a widow, afraid she would be left all alone, afraid he would ruin her life. But all she said was, “Xu Qingyue, wherever you are, that’s where I’ll be.” From Shanghai to Nanjing, from war to peace, from not daring to love to standing by each other through life and death, this is a story about waiting, devotion, and “As long as you’re alive, I’m not going anywhere.”