From the moment Lin Chen was born, his life was mired in hardship. The world had never treated him gently. The tangled grudges of the previous generation left him burdened with loneliness and suffering no one else had to endure. He lost his parents as a child and had no one to protect him. Forced to leave his homeland, he grew up alone amid poverty and scorn, year after year without warmth, with hardship at every turn. He had seen the world’s indifference and tasted every kind of suffering. He thought his remaining years would be barren, with nothing left to hope for.
Then fate brought him Lin Zhiqing, a gentle and resilient girl who became the sole salvation in his dark years and the only light in his long life. They came to know and accompany each other, saving each other through life and death and enduring the pain of separation. They were the people each trusted and cared for most. But fate played cruel tricks: misunderstandings and secrets drove them apart, until they began to hurt one another.
To protect his peace of mind and safeguard his future, she went abroad alone to heal her wounded heart, silently bearing every hardship and grievance. With the coldest outward demeanor, she made the most heartfelt sacrifice for him. Haunted by his feelings and beset by doubts, he searched step by step through the gaps in his memories, determined to find the truth he had lost. At last, they understood each other’s restraint and the depth of their devotion, the kind that endures the longest.
Once every secret was brought to light and every misunderstanding dispelled, they chose, from among the countless forms love can take, the gentlest one. They let go of the romantic entanglements of worldly love and the obsession of youthful passion, choosing instead to stay together as family. They shared a home, spent their days together year after year, supported each other, and never left one another’s side. For the rest of their lives, they would warm the passing years with the comforts of home and bring joy to their later days with children, using the security of their constant companionship to heal the deep wounds in each other’s lives.
