An old, secluded estate, a family’s rise and fall through half a century of Republican-era China.
From the chaos of a nation on the brink to the fading embers of a bygone age, every brick and tile of the ancestral home bears witness to a family’s fortunes and decline, while keeping the joys and sorrows, loves and hatreds of an entire generation hidden within.
The times are turbulent, with war raging on every front, and a once-peaceful household is swept up in the tides of history. The younger generation each sets off on a different path. Some remain behind to protect their homeland, guarding the old house and the ideals they hold dear. Others travel far away, struggling to survive amid the chaos. And some chase after love, only to part for years, never to meet again in this lifetime.
The duties of family and country intertwine with matters of the heart, while individual destinies rise and fall with the currents of the age. This is no tale of an underdog defying fate and staging a triumphant comeback. It tells only of ordinary people in a bygone era, and their struggles, steadfastness, regrets, and tenderness. They protect their loved ones through storms, learn the meaning of longing through partings, and hold on to a small measure of peace within their hearts amid the turmoil.
Years pass, old friends scatter, yet the plants in the courtyard still wither and bloom. The obsessions, regrets, and tenderness hidden in the ancestral home eventually become the most vivid portrait of ordinary life against the backdrop of a changing age.
Complete at 724,000 words, with no hiatus or rushed ending. Immerse yourself in a long tale of family, country, joy, and sorrow amid the turmoil of Republican-era China.
