The encounter between Lu Jinghan and Xie Wugui was a tender accident in the rose garden in early summer - he was looking after the garden for others and saw Xie Wugui squatting among the flowers, tying brackets for broken roses, with stars in his eyes. The days that followed were full of sweetness: they cut branches and leaves together in the morning, and enjoyed the sunset together in the evening. Lu Jinghan secretly planted white roses that Xie Wugui loved, and Xie Wugui filled the sketch book with the word "Jinghan". They thought that guarding the rose garden would keep it forever.
Changes came with the arrival of Xie Wugui's family and the beauty was torn apart. His mother cried and dragged him home, and his father smashed his drawing book, slapped him, and called him "embarrassing." When Xie Wugui escaped through the window and returned to the rose garden, his white shirt was still stained with palm prints. After his family brought the incident to the town, rumors and malice abounded: stones were thrown at flowers in the rose garden, Lu Jinghan was insulted by the shopkeeper, and children followed behind him and sang dirty words.
Xie Wugui protected Lu Jinghan and said "Forget it" through the window. Lu Jinghan stayed downstairs for three days and three nights, only waiting for his heartbreak. During the days of separation, the rose garden withered, and Xie Wugui tore up the painting book and glued it together. Until late at night, Xie Wugui escaped through the window with injuries all over his body. The two hugged each other tightly, grasping at the last straw.
They picked the only remaining roses in the garden and spread them beside the stone bench. Xie Wugui whispered, "I'm tired." Lu Jinghan took out the medicine he had saved, and at dawn, he hugged him and lay among the roses. From now on, he no longer had to hide from his family and listen to the world's curses. The rose that once symbolized their encounter became the funeral and memorial of their love.
Purpose: Starting with a rose and ending with a rose, it reveals the destructive crushing of pure love by secular prejudice, and laments the tragedy of two souls with nowhere to escape from malice.
