The Bone-Deep Ache Never Fades

Perhaps Ye Hemian had never known what it felt like to be loved. That was why he clung to his delusions, unable to think or feel clearly at this point. Everything he had gone through in his unhappy life was reduced to a calm, ordinary murmur: “Keep living…”

Looking back on his life, he had been hopelessly deluded, and got what he deserved…

He was clever, and yet he had spent his whole life drunk on love, that intangible thing he could never touch, never waking from his stupor…

“If I’ve spent my whole life chasing it… I might as well spend my whole life drunk.”

The wind at a tremendous height tossed his hair. Below him lay an endless sea of death. The helicopter’s rotors roared, but he would never feel fear again, never worry again, and never stop chasing.

People often say love can overcome any obstacle, but…

Even the deepest love cannot save someone who has been trapped in the mire for too long.

Ye Hemian thought he would stumble through his unhappy life in a daze forever. But just when he had despaired and was about to surrender to his unjust fate, Heaven toyed with him again, giving him one last lifeline, thin as a thread. For someone sunk deep in the mud, that lifeline was both a blessing and a source of even greater despair.

1. A gentle exterior and a single-minded, hidden darkness (gong) × a seemingly aloof or cheerful exterior, with a heart that always holds on to a shred of kindness toward life (shou)

2. Love can overcome any obstacle. It can give someone who is loved hope in a bewildering life, but before happiness comes even greater guilt at being loved, followed by deeper despair born of self-blame.

3. A person’s life may be complete in countless ways, yet there will always be something incomplete to fill that completeness. Even a life that was incomplete from the start can still have moments of contentment.

Theme: Love can overcome any obstacle, but it cannot save someone who has been trapped in the mire for years.