Long Songs on the Apricot Shore

Long Synopsis of Green Apricot Ferry

The Wangchuan River outside Qingshi Town connects the villages on both banks. But because lonely spirits and resentful wraiths have gathered on its riverbed, mist shrouds it all year round and its waters are treacherous. Only the Ferrywoman rows a small wooden boat across the river. She takes no money, only the season’s green apricots. The apricots hold the pure yang energy of spring, which can dispel the river’s turbulence and resentment and keep the crossing safe. But as the years pass, the townsfolk switch to more profitable crops, and green apricots become increasingly scarce. The Ferrywoman finds it harder and harder to make the crossing, while the Wangchuan River grows ever more dangerous. Now and then, travelers die in its waters. The townsfolk grow fearful, and fewer people make the journey.

A Yan, a young man from the town, has been alone since childhood. Honest and kindhearted, he makes a living weaving bamboo baskets and often helps his neighbors. In the corner of his courtyard stands a single old apricot tree, the only keepsake left by his parents. He tends it lovingly, and each year its branches are laden with green apricots. One day, while delivering bamboo baskets, A Yan needs to cross the Wangchuan River. He pays the Ferrywoman with green apricots, but halfway across, black mist and resentful spirits attack them. The Ferrywoman uses the apricots to dispel the danger and tells A Yan how the apricots protect the ferry crossing, as well as how scarce they have become. Moved with compassion, A Yan secretly vows to protect the apricots and keep the crossing safe. After the autumn harvest, he gathers a full basket of apricot pits. When spring comes, he scatters them all along the banks of the Wangchuan River and waters them every day, come rain or shine.

Seeing A Yan’s dedication and remembering the dangers they have faced while crossing the river, his neighbors begin planting apricot trees too. In just three years, groves of apricot trees stretch along the Wangchuan River. In spring, the branches fill with green apricots, their fresh fragrance drifting across the river. The river’s resentment gradually fades, its waters grow calm, and travelers begin crossing in greater numbers. Qingshi Town slowly grows lively again. The Ferrywoman finds the crossing easier than ever and takes a special interest in kindhearted A Yan, occasionally teaching him a few simple protective spells and secretly keeping him safe.

Deep in the apricot grove stands a single tree that has cultivated