In the spring of the 26th year of the Republic of China, Lin Zhixia was recommended by his mentor and came to an abandoned botanical garden in a small southern town to conduct disease investigation.
The owner of the garden, Song Yu'an, was twenty-two years old and his family was in decline. He alone guarded the five-level terrace vegetation passed down from his ancestors. When we first met her, she was kneeling in the mud planting flowers, wearing half a velvet glove on her left hand. That night she took off her gloves and showed Lin Zhixia - from the fingertips to the heel of the palm, her hand had turned into translucent crystal.
"Crystal disease is inherited from ancestors. My mother had it when she was twenty-seven, and I am twenty-two. The doctor said I can probably live for one year."
"It's still too late if you leave now."
Lin Zhixia did not leave.
During that year, Song Yuan taught her to recognize every leaf and flower. She seeps her disease into the soil and nourishes the dying plants and trees. She used her transparent, shattering hands to write the maintenance notes of the entire botanical garden in a book with a dark blue cover.
Lin Zhixia watered the plants, moved the seedlings, and turned the soil for her. Wash her hands, comb her hair, and cover her feet. He rushed into the greenhouse for her to rescue her on a rainy night, and held her hand that was getting lighter by the charcoal fire in winter.
On the day of the Spring Equinox, Song Yuan shattered into a butterfly.
Lin Zhixia stayed in the garden for many years. She tore up the notebook and planted orchids all over the mountain. Every spring equinox she would sit in the orchid garden on the top of the mountain for a whole day, waiting for a butterfly with blue wings and pink edges to fall.
The last words Song Yuan wrote on the paper before leaving were:
"Watch the spring for me."
Lin Zhixia looked at it. All springs in the future will be for her.
Intention: In a limited time, how to love someone and how to learn to say goodbye.
