The ordinary little details of everyday life
The heroine doesn't have the best personality, and she's definitely not an all-powerful heroine.
Setting: The way of life is somewhat like that of the late Qing and early Republican eras, except that women hold power instead of men. Even so, women aren't as isolated and lowly as they were back then. I don't like either side being too cut off or inferior. I like writing characters who have room to grow in their lives and personalities, but women are in charge, while men are subordinate and protected.
When the dark clouds clear, the sky appears
A restless heart turns with karma
Trees meet early in the forest
Fate flows in slowly, like water
…
The old is like fragrant grass, the new like fireworks
Fragrant grass burns on and on
Bright fireworks fade to ash
A former life, like drifting smoke
This life, like a spring
Smoke scatters without a trace, indifferent
The deep spring brings peace to the heart
I give you orchid grass,
A boy's pure heart,
As dusk deepens,
We lean together beneath the snow.
(Orchid grass: At first it looks like a sprout, with two thick leaves spreading to either side. Its color resembles blue-green jade, and its thick leaves are translucent, as pure as a young boy. As it grows, its leaves become rough and speckled. The two leaves come together to form a stem, with long, white whiskers hanging over the leaves like an old man's beard. A whole patch of orchid grass looks like snow in June. At sunset, the glow of the evening sky bathes it in a beautiful pink light.)
It means: My feelings for you are as sincere as this pure orchid grass. Even when you grow old and your hair turns white, my feelings will only deepen. (In its later stages, orchid grass resembles old age: its leaves become rough and speckled, like the changed figure and age spots of an elderly person, while its long whiskers hang down like white hair.) Our feelings grow stronger with the passage of time. Even the most handsome men are just empty images, unable to replace the years we've spent relying on each other. (In its later stages, the orchid grass's leaves, which at first spread to either side, become hard like stems and lean together, with long white whiskers hanging above them, like two elderly, white-haired companions leaning on each other.)
Neither a beautiful, captivating man nor a sweet, charming boy can replace the one you grew up with. When faced with the choice between life and death, you know whose loss you couldn't bear, and whose loss would bring only grief and regret. But losing the person you grew up with is simply unthinkable. You'd rather lose everyone else and never see them again, but the one you grew up with must always be part of your life. Only he can make you feel calm and secure. You absolutely cannot live without him. Having him is enough. Without him, even if you're surrounded by many other wonderful people, your heart will no longer feel at peace in this world.
