Love Locks the Mountains and Rivers

— Yu, the Shopkeeper

1. (Prologue) The ancient jade token left by my parents

At the summit of the high mountain, the abode of immortals, a bronze furnace glowed with divine light. An elderly man, his hair all white, reached for a delicate white jade and approached a man lying with closed eyes on a bed, his silver hair and youthful appearance suggesting centuries of slumber. The old man lifted him gently, placing the jade on his forehead, gazing intently at his sleeping face with a look that spoke volumes—love mixed with sorrow, like bidding farewell and waiting.

Alas, life is slipping away, yet why does my mind conjure such absurd and fantastical dreams?

Blood continued to flow. Loosening the hand tightly gripping a stone, reaching towards the ancient jade pendant on the chest, "Mom, Dad, I have no strength to endure any longer. Is it okay to come find you like this?"

An hour ago, Tong Xiangbei slipped into a small stream amid the mountains. Before stabilizing her posture, she was washed down a steep slope by moss and water. In the chaos, her right hand found a tree root, suspending her in the middle of a small waterfall. The left hand grasped a protruding rock for support but was unexpectedly cut by its sharp edge. After calling for help for so long, blood continued to flow, her entire body had become weak. Will anyone come? Can she hold on?

Five years ago, Tong Xiangbei achieved outstanding results, obtaining dual master's degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry and geographical economics. Her parents attended her graduation ceremony, their car filled with lively discussions and dreams for the future until... Her mother, from her father's neck, took down the ancient jade passed down through generations in the Tong family, and handed it to her with difficulty. "Xiao Bei, you will walk this path alone in the future. Let this jade token of mountains and rivers replace your parents to protect you. Remember, always wear it. Don't cry, Xiao Bei. It will bless you, guide you to find a boy who loves you like your parents do."

Five years later, since the accident that took her parents, except for weekends or holidays spent alone in the mountains, Tong Xiangbei treated work as her lover. She wholeheartedly managed the Chengshi Food and Pharmaceutical Group of her mother's family, successfully restructuring her father's network service-oriented Chinese and Western medical clinics. Last month, both companies' management teams submitted reports that satisfied the shareholders, and Tong Xiangbei finally relieved herself of the burden she had carried alone for so long.

"I just wanted to walk the mountain road where I parted with my parents. But was it actually to catch up with them and travel together?" The survival instinct of Tong Xiangbei and the conflicting thoughts of longing to follow her parents for all these years tangled, until the small tree root could no longer bear the weight alone and began to loosen. In that moment when she was washed away by the water, the jade pendant on Xiangbei's chest seemed to scorch her heart like a red-hot branding iron, spreading throughout her body. The small waterfall seemed to have no end, and familiar, unfamiliar, blurry, or clear figures, scenes, and voices, like scratched old film reels, pulled at Xiangbei's nerves as if playing an old movie. Finally, with a loud "bang," her body fell into a pitch-black cold pool. The burning sensation gradually subsided, the images in her mind still flashing, and Tong Xiangbei passively watched fragments of the life of a girl in ancient costume who looked remarkably like her, from birth to her teens. The splitting headache, bone-chilling cold enveloped her, and she slowly lost the last trace of consciousness.