I Know the Green of Plants and Trees

During the ten years Prince Wei went mad, he was the foolish prince everyone despised.

Later, he regained his senses, seized great power, and turned the world upside down. He married a noble, beautiful wife, basking in success and glory.

It was as if Heaven meant to repay him for all those years when he had nothing.

Those dark, lonely, mad years he never wanted to speak of had vanished from him completely.

As if they had been no more than a dream, gone without a trace once he awoke, never to be remembered again.

At the height of his glory, the little maid who had once kept him company for eight years quietly packed her things and slipped away through a side gate.

The little maid sat in an ox cart, clutching her bundle as her legs swung back and forth.

She gazed at the capital, swallowed by pale violet dusk and growing more distant, like a blot of ink on rice paper, and thought:

The capital was huge and beautiful. It had very, very wide roads, so many people, and so many stories that a lifetime would not be enough to tell them all.

The capital was wonderful, but she would never go back. Never again.

The little maid returned to her hometown, where green hills and clear waters surrounded her and the sounds of chickens and dogs carried from house to house. She taught the children to read and write, and they were always crowding around her, asking all at once:

Big Sister, Big Sister, have you been to the capital? Big Sister, Big Sister, have you met the prince? What kind of person is he?

The little maid always smiled and said, "I've forgotten."

Later, on a stormy night, the little maid heard someone knocking. She threw on her clothes, picked up an oil lamp, and opened the door a crack. A flash of lightning lit up a familiar face.

The man who should have been thousands of miles away, at the court in the capital, with his beautiful wife and power, enjoying all the riches and splendor of life, stood silently in the pouring rain, holding his horse. He was drenched from head to toe, his wet hair clinging to his pale cheeks. He looked utterly wretched, yet his gaze was intent.

He looked into her eyes and said softly, slowly:

"Qingqing, I've lost my way again."

1. A story about the heroine's everyday country life, with a little romance along the way.

2. Not much in the way of drama or face-slapping, just a gentle farming romance.

Theme: Living earnestly is always life's answer.