Adapted from historical legends. The characters in this story are fictional. Author: Han Minglei. At Xuanyang Post Station in northern Henan, a thousand-year-old postal road stretches across the Central Plains. The aroma of flatbread drifts around beacon fires, while lamplight glows against the rise and fall of dynasties. Each flatbread from the post road embodies the humble livelihood of the families who served the old station, and bears the marks of war and turmoil. From the remnants of the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the bustle of the Ming and Qing, from the struggles of Chu and Han to changing administrative divisions, ancient legends lie hidden in the stone-paved road, while the station’s cooking smoke carries the joys and sorrows of those who kept it running. Even as fires of war blaze on all sides, the hands kneading and baking never stop. Through the hardships of the postal road, the heart that holds fast to its homeland never wavers. With the fragrance of flatbread as its bones and the flames of war as its soul, this story weaves a long song of an ancient Central Plains post station, where history and human lives intertwine, and ordinary people reveal their sincerity and resilience amid turbulent times.
