Mu Hui Tumbling

The boy died suddenly before he had even reached adulthood, leaving Mu Hui alone, trapped in an obsession divided by life and death.

Others only knew that she was mired in the past and sunk in gloom. One after another, they claimed to be acting "for her own good," endlessly wearing her down with gossip, admonitions, and cold treatment. Everyone pressured her to give in, be patient, put the past behind her, and conform to the ways of the world.

Her sister-in-law was the only one who knew the truth about the boy's death. She could see Mu Hui crying silently night after night, using alcohol to suppress herself, and growing increasingly withdrawn and haggard. Yet she never understood the agony surging in Mu Hui's heart. Instead, she kept gently urging her to let go, hoping she would bow to the ways of the world.

Everyone believed the boy who had passed away was the shackle holding Mu Hui back. But only Mu Hui herself knew that it was the prejudice and pressure handed to her by the living that cut her like a blade. The boy who had fallen into an early, eternal sleep was the only shield she had left in this cruel world.

She wore a piece of jewelry close to her skin, engraved with forget-me-nots. Using the boy's surname, she called it Xiao Wu, firmly believing that objects had spirits. Through the long years, the whole world demanded that she forget. Only Xiao Wu stayed against her skin day and night, receiving the grievances, resentment, and longing she had nowhere to express, and keeping the boy who had remained young company with her, alone, for all those years.

The tuberoses bloomed and withered, and the far shore remained distant. Mu Hui looked back at the vast, glittering world of mortals, but the one who was meant to return to her would never come.