Only the Green Mountains Remain [Shinian]

[Love too deep to last + love at first sight + sweet romance + tragic ending + short story]

I see the green hills, but not you. I play out my beauty’s final notes like a deity.

In prosperous Chang’an, where worldly splendor abounds, how could a monk never be moved?

At sixteen, Mu Qingwan, dressed in her phoenix crown and bridal robes, married into the general’s household and became Gu Jingyun’s wife. In the capital, the two were perfectly in tune, like a pair of immortals, and their love became the talk of the town. But fate had other plans. The year after their wedding, Gu Jingyun went to the frontier, and amid the swirling yellow sands, only his letters could carry their longing. Then came devastating news: at twenty-two, he fell in battle, his blood soaking the earth, leaving behind nothing but grief.

Mu Qingwan’s heart died. She resolutely cut off her hair and entered the convent, spending the rest of her life beside the green lamp and ancient Buddha. Nine years passed in the blink of an eye. When a winter chill struck, she returned to the past in a dream. Whispers beneath the moon and promises made before his departure: every word belonged to the two of them.

“A Yun, will you watch the moon with me for the rest of our lives?”

“I will. I’ll watch the moon with you for the rest of our lives, from black hair to white, never leaving you, staying by your side in life and death.”

“Wanwan, wait for me to come home.”

The past was like a dream. She woke with tears soaking her pillow. Was this long dream a prison built from longing, or the prelude to release? Could Mu Qingwan let go of the past in the depths of memory and find true peace within the Buddhist sanctuary? Only when the dream ends and longing is laid to rest will she understand that love can be either a calamity or a blessing, all depending on a single thought.