Meeting You Was the Best Stroke of Luck

In the second year of Jingkang, the Jin army breached Bianjing. On the day the city fell, Zhao Cheng'an, a member of the Song imperial clan, and Shen Qinghe, a palace maid, embraced for the last time amidst blood and fire. He promised her a next life, but she only said, "Meeting you was the best stroke of luck." That very night, Zhao Cheng'an died in the chaos of war, calling her name until his last breath. Shen Qinghe was captured and taken north, spending twenty-seven years in humiliation and waiting, guarding a promise that would never be answered. She waited from youth to old age, from the palace walls to the desolate frontier, gazing south until her final moment. This is a tale of turbulent times, waiting, and hopelessness. Life lasts but thirty thousand days, and meeting you was the best stroke of luck.