In the chaos of the Republican era, the land lay shattered. Gu Beichen and Shen Qingtang grew up side by side, separated only by a wall. He told her, “You’re the one I love most,” and she believed him for the rest of her life.
He enlisted at Whampoa; she took up her pen on the battlefront. Five years apart, they had only been reunited for a few days when the Battle of Shanghai left him “dead” on the battlefield. Carrying the copper coin he had left behind, she traveled across a China consumed by war, seeing for him all the mountains and rivers he had never had the chance to see. Dragging his amputated leg, he crawled out of a pile of corpses and spent eight years limping his way back home.
Some say this is the most heartbreaking romance of the Republican era. There is no scheming rival or contrived misunderstanding. What tore them apart was the hurricane of an entire age.
Others say it is the most healing reunion. After a lifetime of hardship, he stands in the sunset, leaning on his cane, the worn, gleaming copper coin still in his palm, and tells her, “The winds may rise and the clouds may gather, but I’m still here.”
One promise, a lifetime of trials. Every gut-wrenching line brings tears, making this the perfect book to finish in one sitting before bed. Open the first chapter, and you’ll believe it: the most moving thing in a time of chaos isn’t a hero’s legend, but the sight of one broken person spending the rest of his life making his way toward another.
