Fang Qingyan, the second son of the Fang family in the cultivation world, appears to be a gifted and brilliant formation elder. In truth, he has spent half his life caught in the family's power struggles. He escapes that quagmire and goes into seclusion at Yunya Sect, tending the bamboo grove and formations at Jingchen Residence, believing he can live out the rest of his days in peace.
Jiang Che, the sect's junior martial uncle, has a striking head of pale pink hair and a temper like thunder. He calls his disciples "useless" as casually as breathing, yet is more patient than anyone. He barges into Fang Qingyan's life carrying a basket of herbs. His hands, always unsteady, are impossibly gentle when they touch Fang Qingyan, whether changing his dressings amid a stream of grumbling or silently checking his pulse and inserting acupuncture needles.
One is a "sickly" elder who loves fiddling with pink spirit stones and has an insatiable sweet tooth. The other is the owner of the medicine hut, all talk and no action, yet repeatedly teased until his ears turn red. Their everyday moments are hidden in chance encounters in the library, beneath the window where medicine is delivered in the dead of night, in jokes about "bringing more pink things," and in the increasingly heated gossip that spreads right under everyone's noses.
Until one night, Fang Qingyan returns covered in blood. Jiang Che comes upon him and silently fetches clean water to wipe the blood from his hem.
Until, by the cold pool, Jiang Che, his heart aflame, is pushed to the brink of losing control. How much unspoken longing is hidden in that restrained cry of "Fang Qingyan"?
Until the poison takes hold and blood stains his lapel, Fang Qingyan silently mouths "Don't cry" in Jiang Che's arms.
Too bad he will never get to scold him again.
This is a story about protection, restraint, and regret. When the gentleness of pale pink fails to keep the moon-white figure by his side, how will the one left behind search among the medicinal scents of the years to come for that crisp scent on his clothes, which will never return?
"Go ahead and try dying. I haven't finished scolding you yet."
Core message: Love others as you love yourself.
