I'm Not Your Oak Tree

[Signed]

Mostly dialogue, with occasional floating comments

CP stock-picking

You are a little rosebush someone picked up. After being abandoned, battered, and exposed to wind and frost, you were brought home by ten young men on a cold, rainy night. They took you to live in a warm greenhouse, but you were afraid they'd abandon you a second time, so you bloomed early. You worried they'd think you only looked like a rose, rather than being one.

But they watered you every day, told you sweet words, sang to you, and praised you. Even when you grew only one new leaf, they'd tell you, “You'll grow into the most beautiful rosebush.”

Maybe they never cared whether you were a rose or a rosebush. They only knew you were one of them, part of the family.

You = Shen Zhiyi, whose name means putting knowledge and action into practice.