Where apricot blossoms flourish in spring, a scroll unfolds, revealing a tranquil life amid green fields and misty light.
The hills around Peach Blossom Village are as dark green as ink. While gathering herbs, Ni Tang, the Su family's daughter and a healer, rescues a scholar in dire straits. The bitter fragrance of a handful of elderberries ties their fates together for half a lifetime. He writes essays on statecraft and the land, yet it is the sound of her jade pestle pounding medicine that teaches him the true flavor of life: simple contentment. She could have stayed in her herb cottage and let the years pass, but instead she braves the frost and snow along his journey through the imperial examinations. With silver needles as her sword and a compassionate heart as her shield, she stands with him to protect their home and hearth.
From a scholar in blue to a minister in purple robes, he never forgets the glimmering pearl beside the young woman's temple by the stream. On the white-jade pendant she treasures, the paired-lotus design has long since absorbed the fragrance of herbs. After seeing all the blossoms of Chang'an, they return hand in hand to their fields. In spring they gather mugwort, in autumn they harvest chrysanthemums; in winter they simmer green plums, and in summer they listen to cicadas. The lofty court cannot compare to a humble cottage, and no fortune can match the cup of angelica soup she offers with a beaming smile.
In this life, there is no need to ask what the future holds. I only wish for this:
May a phoenix of many colors dwell in half an acre of herb fields, and may mandarin ducks rest beside a river veiled in mist and rain.
May we stay together from black hair to white, for the truest flavor of life is found in the everyday.
