He was a heap of rotten mud, his bones eaten away by opium, curled up in the gutters of Jinling City and fighting wild dogs for scraps.
He was a promising young doctor returned from overseas, standing in the snow beneath a black umbrella, offering him a pair of clean hands.
One only wanted to rot away in the mire and die. The other insisted on cutting open his festering flesh, cleaning it, and rebuilding him.
"Yu Lan, opium destroyed your past..."
"But I want your future."
Theme: Even when mired in the muck, a heart turned toward a glimmer of light can still find meaning.
