Swallow Fire Inherits Autumn

In the 24th year of the Republic (1935), the autumn wind of Beiping carried the looming shadow of a gathering storm. Su Wanyan, a student in Yenching University's Chinese Department, buried herself in old texts, reading of "wind and rain dark as night" beside Weiming Lake. Lu Chengzheng, returned from Huangpu, clad in military uniform, brought the lingering smoke of the war beyond the passes as he garrisoned the old capital. One brush, one rifle—the scholarly integrity of the ivory tower and the tempered iron resolve of the battlefield—met suddenly by the lake strewn with parasol leaves. As the flames of war pressed step by step toward North China, student protests, hidden spy currents, and unending gunfire followed one after another. They loved amid the chaos and chose before the national crisis; romantic ties were never first in line. If the mountains and rivers are overturned, how can ordinary togetherness remain? When the fires of war burn away Beiping's autumn light, the swallows fly south and the steadfast bones go to death—with a heart of pure sincerity, in shattered years, they hold fast to each other, and hold fast as well to the cultural vein of Huaxia and the ten thousand li of mountains and rivers. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: Swallow Fire Inherits Autumn — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠