★The grand finale of a Republican-era trilogy rated 9.0 on Douban Read
★A nightingale's swan song in turbulent times: After eight years abroad, she returns triumphant — only to face her Cambridge romance, a fraught marriage, and the flames of the Battle of Shanghai. A feminist epic more passionate than Love in a Fallen City
★An artistic odyssey between East and West: Cheng Yanyan, the "Nightingale" who defied conventions, battles fate with song. From London's classrooms to Parisian struggles and war-torn Shanghai, this novel paints an indomitable artistic soul with exquisite brushstrokes.

"Swallow in Flight" concludes Shen Yanhang's (a.k.a. Linglongxin) Republican-era trilogy ("Only Fragrance Lingers as Before" and "Spring Winds Scatter Dreams Like Cold" were serialized on Douban Read). The two-volume work follows:
Volume 1 (Autumn 1929–Summer 1934): Shanghai and London
Volume 2 (May–December 1937): Shanghai

1930s
Cheng Yanyan, scion of a scholarly family,
Blessed with beauty and a nightingale's voice,
Fell for Western opera — earning the nickname "Nightingale" among kin.
Yet rigid traditions and societal scorn
Made her musical dreams a thorny path.

London's education and Parisian hardships forged her anew.
After eight years, she returned in glory
To a Shanghai shadowed by war,
Where awaited—
The unforgettable Cambridge lover,
A marriage tangled in love and resentment,
And the French soulmate who shared her stage dreams.

Passion cooled to indifference,
Vows decayed to lies.
Amidst artillery and fate's whims,
All crumbled to ashes—
Only to be reborn.

Shen Yanhang (Douban ID: Linglongxin)
A young historical fiction writer who earned her MA in Literature from Japan's Kanazawa University.
Specializing in ancient Chinese history — particularly the Spring and Autumn period — she has spent years researching and serializing accessible historical works that reveal multifaceted perspectives.

Publications:
"The Other Side of the Spring and Autumn Period" (history)
"Elegant Chats" (literary essays)
"Snow Woman and Lotus in the Imperial Pool" (novellas)
"Last Night's Moonlit Dream by West Lake" (essays)
"Only Fragrance Lingers as Before" (novel)

Part One – Dreams
"Who wouldn’t love to hear the music rising from the river’s depths, painting dreams and spring upon its tranquil surface?
…That single spring was the only season of my life — pitiful as it sounds — that I can truly say was not wasted."
—Xu Zhimo, "My Cambridge Memories"

I
Shanghai, Autumn 1929

The Bai-Jie Villa on Haig Road was the residence of Li Wenyuan, a prominent Shanghai scholar. A refined yet imposing American-style structure, the compact house featured a red roof and cream-white walls atop a raised stone foundation, encircled by slate-gray European railings. A few steps down the stone staircase lay an expansive emerald lawn. Visitors, upon entering the gate and gazing inward from the lawn’s edge, would feel an immediate sense of spacious serenity.

At forty-three, Li Wenyuan was a former Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) member who had spent years in fervent activism. A decade prior, he had returned to Hangzhou to inherit his family’s business, gradually shifting its operations to Shanghai. Initially, his commercial pursuits aimed to fund Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary cause, but shifting political tides redirected his focus to education. With fellow Tongmenghui alumni, he co-founded schools in Shanghai, achieving notable success.

On this early September afternoon, autumn’s touch was still faint. Li hosted one of his monthly salons for educators — a coveted gathering where old acquaintances mingled with fresh faces introduced by regulars. By five o’clock, with dinner still hours away and ladies and children yet to arrive, the men congregated in the west wing’s tea room. The center of attention was Li himself, in his prime, deep in conversation with a pipe-smoking elder over fifty: Cheng Huaiqing, president of Yongji University.

A former Qing-dynasty attaché in Britain and later a senior official in the Beiyang government’s Ministry of Education, Cheng had taught at several universities before retiring to Tianjin as a gentleman recluse. When Yongji University’s presidency fell vacant, Li personally traveled to Tianjin to recruit him. Their rapport was instant, and Cheng soon traded his quietude for academic leadership in Shanghai.