Yao Rinqing, the word is cold, the son of the Jiangnan family, talented and personable. Mu Shishi, a daughter of a famous family, is both talented and beautiful, gentle and virtuous. The two have been engaged since childhood, but for various reasons, they have never met.
One day, Yao Rinqing passed through Mu Mansion and happened to meet Mu Shishi, who had returned from going out. At a glance, both of them had a trace of strangeness in their hearts. However, due to the religious obsolescence, they did not communicate much, but only saw each other in a hurry, and went home.
Since they met that day, Yao Rinqing often thinks of Mu Shishi's shadow in his heart, and Mu Shishi also has a good impression of Yao Rinqing. However, both of them adhered to etiquette and did not dare to show their hearts. Whenever there is a dead of night, they will face the same bright moon and place their thoughts on it.
In order to get close to Mu Shishi, Yao Rinqing began to frequently go in and out of Mu Mansion. He met friends with poems and became friends with Mu Shishi's brother Mu Zixuan. Taking this opportunity, he was able to get acquainted with Mu Shishi. However, they never dared to cross the thunder pool and express their intentions.
Soon, Yao Rinqing was forced to leave Jiangnan and go to the capital. On the occasion of parting, he and Mu Shishi saw each other off by the river. Looking at the back of the drifting away, the two of them were full of helplessness and sadness. However, they still dare not say what they think in their hearts, and can only turn their thoughts into drifting dust.
A few years later, Yao Rinqing achieved fame in the capital and returned to Jiangnan. He came to Mu Mansion as soon as possible to find Mu Shishi. However, Mu Shishi is married to a wife and has a husband and children. Yao Rinqing left gloomily, his heart full of pain.
Yao Rinqing left Jiangnan and traveled around, trying to let go of the obsession in his heart. However, he couldn't forget Mu Shishi after all. Whenever there was a dead of night, he would think of the riverside that day, and his heart was full of regrets.
Many years later, Yao Rinqing died of illness at the age of fifty. Before he died, he looked at the moonlight outside the window, and his heart was full of Mu Shishi's shadow. After all, he couldn't let go of that period of dust and passed away with regret.
And in a corner of the south of the Yangtze River, Mu Shishi also passed away quietly under the same round of moonlight. She always has Yao Rinqing in her heart, and life and death go hand in hand.