A heartbreaking romance. Readers nursing a broken heart should read with caution, and at their own risk! The author spent 50 years writing this book and wept countless times...
Synopsis of Yun'er Finds Her Heart
After failing her college entrance exams, Yun'er, a beautiful nineteen-year-old from the city, goes to Yun Cliff Mountain to stay with her second uncle. There, she falls in love with Shizhu, a young man who raises silkworms. She gives him her “red heart,” a good-luck charm, and tells him, “I’ve given you my heart.” When Yun'er’s parents summon her back to the city, each of them writes ten letters to the other, but not one reaches its destination. Feng Feng, a girl from a neighboring village who is jealous of Yun'er, intercepts Shizhu’s replies and bribes a fortune-teller to suggest that the lovers are incompatible. She also sews a “wind heart” to blow the “cloud heart” away. Ten months later, Yun'er receives Shizhu’s long-delayed letter: “I lost your heart.” She returns to Yun Cliff Mountain to look for it, only to find the house deserted and in ruins. Yun'er climbs alone to Ren Stone Crag, where, at sunrise, she sees the red heart, the morning sun, plunge over the cliff. At a sham wedding meant to bring him good fortune, Shizhu sees a purple shadow fall. He races up the mountain, keeps vigil by her grave, and dies there for love. From then on, on autumn mornings, a wisp of purple cloud can be seen winding around the mountaintop: the heart that could never be lost.
