『Lianxiang』
Su Lian
Su Lian, a 22-year-old funeral shop owner and restorer of old relics in an old town, was born into a family that has practiced funeral rites for generations. Her closest kin died early, so she has spent her life surrounded by cemeteries and the belongings of the departed. She is strikingly beautiful, yet cold and reclusive by nature, with a macabre niche hobby of collecting the old possessions of the dead. The story is set in an insular old town where people shun those who work in the funeral trade. The main thread follows her as she bears her family's lonely fate and is ostracized and isolated by others—until she meets a lover who accepts everything about her. She struggles between the solitude of life and death and a sincere love, and in the end defies fate and finds gentle redemption. At her core, she reveres life and death, scorns worldly prejudice, and values enduring, all-accepting companionship. The overall style is cold and macabre, carrying both a sense of fractured fate and tender redemption, complete with character details, an opening monologue, and multi-style novel titles.