Long, long ago, there was a scholar named Wang Zifu who met a girl while traveling during the Shangyuan Festival. She held a plum blossom in her hand, with a bright smile. The prince’s costume was attracted by her beauty and stared at her intently. The girl suddenly whispered, ‘You look at me like a thief!’ After saying that, she threw the flower on the ground and left straight away. The prince picked up the flowers and went home with a heavy heart, as if he had lost his soul, feeling dejected.
He hid the flowers under his pillow and fell asleep as soon as he lay down. I haven’t eaten or drunk for several days. His mother was very worried and invited doctors and Taoist priests to treat him and ward off evil spirits, but to no avail. At this moment, his cousin Wu Sheng was born. Wu Sheng inquired about his condition, and Wang Zifu told him that he was sick because he missed that girl. Wu Sheng said, “What’s so difficult about this? Let me help you inquire and I’m sure I can make your wish come true.” Wang Zifu listened to Wu Sheng’s words and recovered a lot from his illness. Wu Sheng searched everywhere for information, but he couldn’t find the whereabouts of the girl. Wang Zifu urged him, so Wu Sheng had to lie and say, ‘That’s my aunt’s daughter, your cousin, who is not yet engaged.’ Wang Zifu was very happy to hear that the girl lived in the southwest mountains, only thirty miles away from his home.
The prince’s body gradually recovered, and every day he looked at the withered plum blossoms under his pillow, as if he saw that beautiful girl. With deep longing, he hid the plum blossom in his sleeve and decided to go to the mountain to find the girl himself. The mountains in the wilderness surround the lush green scenery. Wang Zifu walked more than thirty miles on the mountain road and saw flowers blooming in the valley from a distance, with a village faintly visible. He walked into the village and saw peach and apricot blossoms flourishing inside the walls of a household, lush bamboo groves, and wild birds chirping. He dared not rashly enter, so he rested on the big stone outside the door.
At this moment, a woman pushed open the door and came out, holding an apricot blossom in her hand, ready to put it on her hair bun. She looked up and saw the prince’s robe, with a smile on her face, and quickly entered the door. At a glance, the prince’s robe recognized her as the girl he had met during the Shangyuan Festival. He was overjoyed, but didn’t know how to visit her. From morning until noon, an old woman walked out with a cane and asked him who he was looking for. Wang Zifu quickly said that he came to visit relatives with the surname Wu. He told the old woman in detail about his family background. The old woman was very surprised and said, “You are my nephew! Your mother is my sister’s child. It’s just that our family is too poor and we don’t have any male children to send you letters.” Wang Zifu was very happy, and the old woman said, “My husband’s surname is Qin, and he has a daughter named Yingning under his knee. Although she’s not my biological child, I took her back and raised her after her mother passed away. She smiles and is carefree every day
The prince settled down in his aunt’s house. During the meal, the old woman asked Yingning to come out to meet the guests. She kept laughing as she bent down to bow. After the two met, the old woman saw their handsome and beautiful appearance and couldn’t help but exclaim, “My nephew hasn’t been engaged yet, has he? Yingning doesn’t have an in laws either. You two are truly a perfect match.” The prince’s gaze remained fixed on Yingning. Yingning burst out laughing and took the maid to admire the peach blossoms.
The next day, while strolling among the flowers, the prince encountered Yinning. He took out the plum blossom from his sleeve and showed it to her. Yingning took the flower and said, “It has withered, why do you still keep it?” The prince’s robe replied, “This was left by my sister, and I kept it because I admired her.” Yingning replied, “It’s just a small matter. There are so many flowers in the garden, I’ll fold a big bundle for you.” The prince’s robe said, “I don’t love flowers, I love the person holding them.” Yingning lowered her head and didn’t say anything. After dinner, the servants of the Wang family came to find the prince’s robe. The old woman was very happy and requested to bring Yingning back together. She said she was getting old and wanted to entrust her daughter to her younger sister to take care of her, which could be considered a relief from her worries.
This was exactly what Prince Fu wanted, so the two of them prepared and set off home. Returning home, the mother of the prince’s robe was very surprised to see her son bring back a beautiful girl. She remembered that she had an older sister who married into a family surnamed Qin, but that sister had already passed away. When she heard the old woman’s description, she found that her appearance, face shape, and eyebrows were very similar.
After inquiring and learning that the girl’s name was Yingning, the old man suddenly realized that after Qin’s sister passed away, her brother-in-law lived a lonely life alone and was enchanted by a fox. That fox gave birth to a daughter named Yingning. When she was a child, her family had seen her once. Later, when my brother-in-law passed away, the fox disappeared with its daughter. So it was entrusted to this old woman to raise and grow up! The mother of the prince’s costume saw her son so infatuated and cute, so she chose an auspicious day to hold their wedding.
