Flowers Along Huang Siniang's Path

"Ruixuan, do you know the story behind the winter jasmine?" She stood behind a patch of winter jasmine, head bowed, her brows and lashes lowered.

"You're a flower grower. You know more than I do."

"They say that when Yu the Great left to tame the floods, he took the thorny vine belt from his waist and gave it to his beloved. After he left, the young woman held the belt and waited for him on a mountaintop. As the years passed, she grew together with the vine and turned into a stone statue. When Yu the Great returned from taming the floods, he held his beloved and wept bitterly. His tears fell on the vine, and little golden flowers bloomed. That is how winter jasmine came to be."

"Siniang, are you planning to follow that woman's example? Don't wait for him anymore. He isn't Yu the Great. He won't come back."

She let out a soft sigh, her autumn-bright eyes misted with tears. "Ruixuan, please stop trying to talk me out of it. Waiting for him has become a habit. Maybe this is just my fate. He said he would return, so he will. The Song Dynasty has not fallen, and neither will he. Perhaps when the winter jasmine blooms again next year, he'll come back."

The setting sun cast its last light, and a lone bird flew across the sky. Siniang, oh, Siniang, do you know that waiting for you has become my habit, too? If only I had not been so reckless in my youth, I would never have missed my chance with you in this life. If there is another life, I would gladly become one of the flowers, so at least I could hear your innermost thoughts. Unlike now, when this patch of winter jasmine lies between us.