Crane and Bamboo Shadows

Tropes: #Push and pull to the extreme, let the willing take the bait#A man in disguise as a woman, childhood friends#Rekindled love#Chasing your wife to the crematorium

Shu He was frail and sickly, yet was a renowned Liu Ren diviner throughout the region around Lishan.

Her lifelong wish was to take over the escort agency her mother had left behind and make a name for herself in the martial world.

But fate had other plans.

She had never divined that even this remote corner of the world could become the target of everyone.

More unexpected still, the "older sister" Yan Zhu, whom she had called that for ten years...

Was actually a young man suffering from madness, disguised as a woman.

Taking advantage of his predicament, Shu He blackmailed him into becoming her hidden ally.

They faced life and death together along the way. It was meant to be a temporary arrangement, but little by little, compassion stirred in her heart.

Only when everyone at the escort agency was slaughtered in a single night did Shu He finally realize that all her careful maneuvering inside the cage had made her nothing more than a pawn in someone else's hands.

Yan Zhu shook the droplets of blood from his sword and glanced over at her.

"Our families have been enemies for more than ten years. I'll put an end to it here."

*

Yan Zhu had always thought that revenge was his life's sole purpose.

He believed he had grown sick of the world, with no desires and nothing to ask for.

But when his madness took hold, he would still instinctively clutch Shu He's skirt, as if it were his last lifeline.

When he was by Shu He's side, he would think, if only this moment could last forever.

He had schemed and calculated every detail, only to end up scheming against the woman he loved as well.

Yan Zhu watched Shu He rise again after being broken, and find life in the face of death.

He watched her share her love with so many people, while forgetting only him.

"Please..."

Weeping, he reached for her hand, took it ever so carefully, and pressed it to his heart.

"Don't leave me alone."

Theme: My fate is mine to decide, not Heaven's