[Alternate history, set in the Republican era. Do not connect this to real history.]
He raised her, and she imprisoned him. They spent their whole lives proving their vow: “Until death do us part.”
[His in body and soul]
Everyone in Shanghai knew that Ninth Master Ji Jiuyuan had a precious gem, and her name was Jiang Linxi.
He raised her, and with the most intense love, nurtured a rose more beautiful and more possessive than any other.
At sixteen, she took a bullet meant to kill him. Her body was never the same, but her heart grew wilder. He taught her, hand over hand, to use a gun and run a business, and taught her a possessiveness that sank deep into her bones.
He said, “My wife is no saint.”
She smiled. “Ninth Master, if you dare die before me, I'll burn your bones to ashes and swallow them.”
Those were their finest days, amid Shanghai's glittering streets, where flowers bloomed in profusion and their children grew up around them.
[Ten years of devotion, a lifetime beside a lonely grave]
Then, on a snowy day, his heart stopped beating, and her world came crashing down.
He left behind few possessions: that Browning, that old pocket watch, and three children with faces just like his. Everyone said Ninth Master was gone from Shanghai, leaving only Madam Ninth, keeping watch over a lonely grave with hair turned white overnight.
Using the coldness and methods he had taught her, she avenged every last wrong done to him.
When the last of his enemies fell, she put on the red dress she had worn when they first met, clutched his pocket watch, and closed her eyes amid the wind and snow.
“Ninth Brother, you taught me that bullets never turn back.”
“Now I'm coming to find you.”
[Love as long as a song, lasting until death]
Life is too short, longing too long. At last, in another world, she can hold his hand again and hear him...
The story of love and hatred during the Republic of China is fascinating and full of ups and downs. It is a good novel.