An alternate world modeled on Republican-era China
1. In her memories, Mr. Su wore a long gown the color of a flowering spirea. Black square-framed glasses rested on his high nose, and he stood amid the depths of a courtyard. His tall, slender shadow fell across the green plums, cool and aloof, beyond compare.
2. Shen Qingying was like a lowly figure mired in mud, sunk deep in the savage swamp of worldly life. He schemed deliberately and got what he wanted, only to disappear without a trace when their love was at its most intense.
3. Overnight, rumors spread everywhere that Su Zhimai had died at a hospital in Yanjing. Her eyes reddened. Clutching a crumpled newspaper, she returned to the courtyard and barely slept, night after night.
4. One day, remembering how the wine had cooled the summer heat, she dug out in one go the green plum wine she had made long ago with someone dear to her. Only then did she laugh bitterly to herself, understand a little, and let her gaze grow dim.
5. In the dead of night, misty rain fell.
Shen Qingying, who had gone to bed, woke to the rustling sound of wind shaking the carved wooden window. She went to close it, but someone covered her mouth, and her face turned pale with fright.
In the late evening light, he had a strikingly handsome face, with seven or eight parts of him resembling Mr. Su.
6. Later, rumors circulated in Yanjing's social circles that the unloved daughter of the Shen family had openly broken her engagement to Han Congyun, young master of the Han family, and spent every day with that pretty boy, the two of them in love.
Then one day, the Green Gang's boss, who never appeared in public, unexpectedly showed up with her.
The wildly popular screen star Guan Xiruo took an instant dislike to her and openly mocked her for coveting wealth and status.
The two faced off, and the next day their clash made the front page.
7. Afterward, an alert person followed the clues and uncovered the truth: Shocking! You call the Green Gang's boss a pretty boy?
- The true white moonlight
- The fake substitute
Theme: Love and the absence of love are both matters of personal freedom.
