White Snake and Green Snake Story Recommendations

"Every man hopes to have two women in his life: the White Snake and the Green Snake. At the same time, side by side, they adorn his desolate fate. But once he has the White Snake, she gradually becomes pale ashes beside a grand red gate. The Green Snake, meanwhile, is a crisp, tender leaf, lush green atop a tree. When he gets the Green Snake, she becomes a dull green medicinal herb in a hundred-drawer apothecary cabinet. And the White Snake, when he finally lifts his head high enough, is seen as soft new snow drifting across the distant sky, carrying endless tenderness. Every woman, too, hopes to have two men in her life: Xu Xian and Fahai. Yes, Fahai is the gilded idol she uses every trick in the book to win the favor of, waiting a lifetime for him to show her the slightest kindness, looking up to him as though he were beyond reach. Xu Xian is the beautiful young man who holds her hand and gently paints her eyebrows, speaking the sweetest words to soothe her heart. But once she has him, not a word he says rings true, not a single gesture is firm. And if Fahai were to submit to her, she would complain that he's too domineering and inattentive, that he doesn't understand tenderness, and that all her efforts were wasted. It's what you can't have that makes you gnash your teeth and ache with longing."