One and Only Ending: The Tragedy of Love Between the Lines

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The sad ending of One and Only: Zhou Shengchen was eventually slandered and executed for the crime of “treason”, and Cui Shiyi died for love by jumping from the building.

The Chinese drama One and Only was not well received at the beginning, but after being broadcast, it gained good reputation and made a successful debut with “BE aesthetics”.

This drama uses a very delicate method to tell a poignant and touching love story.

In this story, the protagonist’s sense of family and country and heroic sentiment of sacrificing oneself for the sake of the world are permeated everywhere, and it also deeply reveals the tragedy of the times when everyone cannot live their own life in the chaotic world.

Zhou Shengchen

Zhou Shengchen (Ren Jialun) is a young and famous war hero, the King of Nanchen.

He has been stationed in Xizhou for many years and holds great power, but he is determined to serve his country all his life. In order to show his loyalty, he made a vow that he would not marry or keep an heir in his life.

Throughout the ages, the court is treacherous and changeable, power is changing rapidly, the ministers have their own thoughts, and there are many people with a precarious existence.

The famous Zhou Shengchen, who is far away in Xizhou,

is the opponent who makes the neighboring countries of the rebellion scare,

is the god of war to protect the people from smoke of gunpowder,

is the general 700,000 king’s army sworn to follow,

is the dangerous factor that can easily overthrow the regime in the minds of the dynastic politicians.

This irreconcilable opposition, there are only two endings: rebellion or be destroyed.

However, Zhou Shengchen has great righteousness in his heart, which also predestined his destiny is only destruction.

In the final plot of One and Only, Zhou Shengchen was given the punishment of boning because he was falsely accused of “treason”. Six hours of punishment, no words, until death.

Although he has always had a high reputation in the court, and there are ministers willing to plead for him. But for Prince Liu Zixing, who has lost his mind, Zhou Shengchen is a thorn in his heart, and he will not be happy until he gets rid of it. In order to get Cui Shiyi, he does not hesitate to use any means.

Zhou Shengchen has lived up to the trust of the royal family and the trust of his people. The only person who was on his mind when he was about to leave was – Cui Shiyi.

The most regrettable thing in his life is that he failed to protect her from the tiresome power struggle.

Cui Shiyi

Cui Shiyi (Bai Lu) is the only daughter of the Qinghe clan, a famous family in the imperial court. Although her family is very powerful, she also has to bear the responsibility of the family’s prosperity and decline.

Her status also predestined her marriage to be a political union.

Before she was even born, she was given in marriage to the Crown Prince. She was forced to travel far from her hometown to study under Zhou Shengchen. All the arrangements were not what she wanted, but she could only accept them in silence.

At the beginning of her journey to the Xizhou, she was actually sullen and unhappy.

She was not interested in the battle record of this master assigned to her, not interested in Xizhou, and not interested in the sentiments of the great family in people’s mouth. She understood very well that she was a tool, to be sent to one unknown place after another.

Until, she saw the army on the city walls, the long night broke, soldiers came out, beacon-fire for the scene, yellow sand, she saw Zhou Shengchen, the man with 700,000 troops in his hands.

Just one glance, she fell.

Just one glance, she would never forget this life.

“Years afterwards, she remembered that day and could still remember clearly. He was wearing a turquoise Han clothing and his eyebrows seemed to be smiling, like a warm sunshine on a cloudy day, shaking people’s eyes.”

In the end of last episode 24 of One and Only, although the news of Zhou Shengchen’s rebellion was not acceptable, she had to face the fact that he was dead.

The ten year old Cui Shiyi lost her words because of the shock of her father’s departure, and the sixteen year old girl lost her words again because of Zhou Shengchen’s “rebellion”.

She loved him so much, and if the prince hadn’t threatened her with the future of the Cui clan and Zhou Shengchen’s safety, she wouldn’t have obeyed and married into the palace. But in the end, Zhou Shengchen was imprisoned and executed for the crime of non-existent “treason”.

She collapsed and felt that there was no point for her to marry or not to marry.

However, she was afraid that she would drag the clan down with her, so she discussed with her mother, Cui Sanniang, to expel herself from the clan.

Then she leapt down from the tower…

On the day of her suicide, she wore a red wedding dress and followed Zhou Shengchen without regret, carrying her heart’s desire.

Sadness, love, bitterness

Before Cui Shiyi came to Xizhou, he was a tough man. The royal family even felt that he was only a military general, and had nothing to do with romance of flowers, chess, calligraphy and painting.

However, Cui Shiyi came.

He took pity on the little mute apprentice and gave her the warmth of home whenever possible.

He worried that the rough martial generals would be rude to her, so he took her with him whenever he was in the royal family.

He acquiesced to her clinging to himself every day…

In the royal family, Zhou Shengchen had eleven apprentices, but only Shiyi was taught by Zhou Shengchen step by step with great care.

She once slept on his lap, and he carried her back to the inner room with a roll of fox skin clothes.

The first half of Zhou Shengchen’s life was the battlefield, the white bones, a horse, a pot of wine, no warmth and small intentions, only the palace but no home.

However, this woman with starry eyes, in a most gentle way to occupy the most hidden corner of his heart.

There is a home, there is a woman waiting in a good manner, thinking of him, waiting for him to go home.

The love without results

From the beginning, the two were impossible, but they fell in love with each other, and they were so affectionate.

He once said, “If I die, I don’t want you to find. Where to die, where to be buried.” However, later in Nanxiao, he looked at Shiyi and suddenly changed his mind: after he died, he would definitely tell Shiyi when and where he died.

He no longer wanted Shiyi to call him master. He began to want to break free from the shackles of this “master and apprentice”, even if only for one day and one night.

Zhou Shengchen has never looked back in his life, just not to allow himself to be attached. But now he is attached to Shiyi, his heart is attached.

Before, he had never had any selfishness, and was all about serving his country. But when he met Shiyi, he became selfish, he said: “I am not a hero, I also have things I want to do but can not do”.

But he is a general, love is a luxury for him. She is the one he can’t guard, the one he has to fail even he doesn’t fail the world.

When the Empress Dowager asked Shiyi to marry Prince Liu Zixing, the two had a heartache, reluctant, tearful farewell.

He thought, you marry him, I guard the kingdom at the border, but also protect you for a lifetime.

He said, “We are your mother’s family, not afraid of you to cause trouble, only afraid that you do not live as well as you want.”

Even if he stepped back, Liu Zixing still does not relent. Because Zhou Shengchen is his wife’s beloved, but also the biggest threat to his throne, he must die.

Zhou Shengchen bought many pomegranates that Shiyi loved. He wiped them clean one by one. But before he could give them to her, he was falsely accused of rebellion and given the punishment of boning. His life of fame and glory ended on the torture rack, leaving only a cold, bloody corpse.

His life for the Beichen, for the people, half a life of war, no wife and no children, he is not ashamed of the world, not ashamed of the people of the world, but, he failed Shiyi.

And what about Cui Shiyi? Without you, how can she be happy? How can she live?

So she bowed to the generals who came to her rescue, and then stepped onto the gate tower one step at a time.

She stood on top of the city wall and said:

“Zhou Shengchen, I’ve come to marry you.”

At last

The sad love between Zhou Shengchen and Cui Shiyi in Chinese drama One and Only is more like the irresistible fatalism in tragedy.

The reason why tragedy inspires the audience with a sense of nobility is the characters’ desperate resistance to their predestination, but in the end, they fail.

This certainly underlines the power and impermanence of fatalism, but the glory of humanity and the beauty and purity of love are also highlighted.

The destruction of beauty is inevitable, but the continuation of beauty is also inevitable.


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