May We Grow Old Together, Through Frost and Snow

“I kill people because I want people to live.”

In the seventh year of the Bai dynasty, the land fell into chaos.

A one-armed swordswoman meets a healer devoted to saving the world. Amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, they become each other’s only source of tenderness.

She says, “From now on, you have me.”

She says, “I’ve saved many people in my life. The one I most want to save is you.” But they were born at the wrong time.

An enemy’s blade, the foe who killed her father, schemes deep within the palace walls, and an epidemic that claims tens of thousands of lives.

When the healer tests poison on herself to save an entire city, she is utterly spent and near death.

The swordswoman’s hair turns white overnight. Holding her body, she sits for three days and three nights.

On the fourth day, she rises and points her sword at the imperial city.

“I’ve killed everyone in this chaotic world for you. From now on, I’ll live for you.” This is a story about staying alive.

There is no absolute good or absolute evil. There are only two women who, in a world that devours people, spend their whole lives trying to give each other a peaceful home.

Plot version: She has seen the deepest darkness in the world: her family was slaughtered when she was seven, she wandered alone for ten years, her left arm was crippled, and her heart turned to stone.

She hides the most beautiful face in the world: a face that brings trouble, a scar she drew on herself, and a cloak she never takes off.

In the seventh year of the Bai dynasty, the chaotic world is a meat grinder.

When the one-armed swordswoman collapses at the entrance to a ruined temple, she thinks she will die there.

But someone drags her inside.

The person wears a cloak, their face impossible to make out, but their hands are gentle. They spend seven days pulling her back from the brink of death, then say, “I can heal your arm.”

It is the first time in Shen Changning’s life that anyone has treated her kindly without expecting anything in return.

Later, she learns the person’s name is Su Qingyin, a wandering physician. Her father died saving others, and ever since, she has lived in a cloak, afraid her face will bring more trouble.

Later, Su Qingyin also learns how much tenderness this woman, cold as ice, hides in her heart. Everyone she was unable to protect died.

One of them kills; the other saves.

One is hard and cold; the other gentle.

One believes she will never cry again; the other believes she will never trust again.

Until the day the bandits come down the mountain.

When Ah Heng is grabbed, Shen Changning throws herself forward. She shields the little girl alone, taking blow after blow, until blood covers the entire hillside.

Su Qingyin stands in the firelight and tears the scar from her face.

When that exquisitely beautiful face is revealed, the entire bandit stronghold falls silent.

She holds a dagger to her own throat.

“I’ll go with you. Let them live.”

Only then does Shen Changning realize how ruthless this frail woman, who can barely lift a sword, truly is.

Only then does Su Qingyin realize that this woman, cold as iron, would give up her life for someone.

Later, the imperial army arrives, and they survive.

But the seventeen wounds on Ah Heng, Shen Changning’s mangled left arm, and the blood of that night are still there.

Su Qingyin asks her, “Was it worth it?”

Shen Changning looks into her eyes.

“You ask whether it was worth it. I don’t know.”

“But I know that anyone who wants to touch you will have to kill me first.”

This is a story about staying alive.

There is no absolute good or absolute evil.

There are only two women who, in a world that devours people, spend their whole lives trying to give each other a peaceful home.

Theme: In a chaotic world that devours people, kindness is not weakness; it is a choice. Protection is not instinct; it is a skill. When the world is no longer worth living in, who or what would you still risk your life for? Shen Changning’s answer is: the person who taught me how to cry again. Su Qingyin’s answer is: those who make me feel that “today wasn’t lived in vain.” Even the timid villagers have their answer: Though they don’t dare to stand up for you, they’ll bring you some vegetables, a pair of cloth shoes, or a basket of eggs, so you know they remember your kindness. This is not a black-and-white world.