Five dynasties ago, there was an era of female rule.
To consolidate power and intimidate dissent, the Empress once commanded all flowers to bloom out of season during the winter months, using her imperial authority.
There was a master of flower-forcing, named Cui Xuanwei.
Cui Xuanwei resided in Luodong, devoted to Daoism, and practiced the arts of medicine and Poria cultivation for thirty years, excelling in the skills of flower cultivation and protection.
Fearing the Empress's might, Cui Xuanwei, along with the Imperial Garden's gardeners and renowned folk florists, spared no effort and truly made various flowers bloom against their natural seasons in the twelfth lunar month.
At the time, the flowers yielded to authority and blossomed, but only the peony defied the decree. No matter how the gardeners and florists tried, it refused to bow in submission.
Soon after, the Empress toured the imperial gardens, saw the peonies were unbloomed, assumed the flowers were transformed by treacherous ministers, and had them uprooted and banished to Mount Mang.
However, after being moved to Mount Mang, the peonies thrived even more, and from then on, peonies were known among scholars as the "flower of noble character."
Now, in Qianxi Prefecture, there is an old gardener named Cui Shiyuan, who happens to be a descendant of the old flower cultivator Cui Xuanwei.
In farming and cultivation, in flower nurturing and forcing, the essence of floriculture lies within.
Xu Qing read about Cui Shiyuan's life and realized how deeply the man's love for flowers was ingrained.
From a young age, Cui Shiyuan often lost himself in the joy of admiring flowers alone. Whenever elders asked, he always childishly replied, "They are all my playmates."
By the time he came of age, Cui Shiyuan had become a well-known flower cultivator.
One day, he heard that the Cizhao Temple outside the city had rare and exotic flowers in bloom, extraordinarily beautiful. How could this flower-loving youth miss such a splendid opportunity?
Without missing noon, Cui Shiyuan hurriedly packed his bags and set off for the Cizhao Temple.
Upon arriving at the temple, he discovered that the rare flowers were a collection of peonies in twelve colors.
He had seen peonies before, but never such a wondrous display of twelve hues.
Those flowers were as if freshly cut cloud brocade, some seemed to hold the color of jade plates catching dew, and others appeared as emeralds embraced by mist.
Cui Shiyuan was astonished as if seeing celestial beings, lingering among the flowers day and night, unwilling to leave, even spending nights asleep among them.
However, good times did not last long.
In just two days, a group of arrogant noble youths arrived at the temple, laughing and shouting, making quite the ruckus.
The reason being, they had heard of the flowers in the temple and came specifically to view them.
But their admiration was neither heartfelt nor respectful.
The frivolous young men and women, upon entering the garden, all exclaimed at the beautiful flowers!
Cui Shiyuan, hearing the commotion, was initially pleased, thinking these young noblemen and women were also flower lovers.
However, the next moment, he saw the leader reach out to pick the flowers.
"Stop!"
Such was Cui Shiyuan's cherishment and love for flowers that, in his eyes, these flowers endured countless days of sun and rain throughout the year for just a few days of blooming. If they were heartlessly plucked now, what a great sin it would be?
The temperamental noble youths, who came to amuse themselves, became provoked when Cui Shiyuan spoke to stop them. Rather than heed his words, they insisted on picking flowers!
"Did you plant these flowers? What business do you have interfering!"
"The flowers aren't mine, but they belong to the temple. Your wanton plucking is already out of line!"
"The temple? Let me inform you, our families funded the construction of this temple. That's why we have today's scenery. Now, even if we were to uproot all the flowers, what could you do?"
Seeing his persuasion fail, anger flared in Cui Shiyuan, and he rushed forward to act as the flowers' protector.
The group began fighting, and with his frail body, there was no way Cui Shiyuan could match the noble youths. In mere moments, he was beaten black and blue, unable to defend himself.
The leader, with his head raised in laughter, turned to pluck the peonies.
But he never expected Cui Shiyuan, so devoted to flowers, would stagger forward, using his body to shield the peonies, refusing to leave despite being pushed and kicked.
The young master of the wealthy family felt humiliated, his anger even stronger, and ordered his underlings to restrain Cui Shiyuan. He then, before Cui Shiyuan's eyes, went to pick the garden's flowers to disgrace him.
Watching the person step into the garden, bit by bit, Cui Shiyuan felt not only humiliated but deeply pained.
At that moment, Cui Shiyuan broke into tears, and the flower thief in the garden laughed wantonly, seemingly dooming the garden's peonies.
However, at this critical juncture, a woman visiting the temple to burn incense and pray, accompanied by her retinue of guards, stopped the noble youths' behavior.
This woman was none other than the recently married young lady of the esteemed Gu family of Huainan.
Faced with the presence of the Gu family's matron, none of the group of affluent princelings dared to utter a word in defiance.
She rebuked and chased away these aimless, idle young nobles, and afterward, the Gu matron ordered others to tend to Cui Shiyuan's injuries.
Upon hearing of the incident, the Abbot and the head monk of Cizhao Temple came to visit.
Touched by Cui Shiyuan's act of protecting the flowers with his life, the Abbot believed this young man possessed a benevolent nature and considered offering him a path to monastic life.
However, Cui Shiyuan's heart was set on flowers and would not turn to the chanting of sutras or seek the teachings of Zen.
"Master, I have no intention of becoming a monk, but if you agree, I wish to be a gardener, tending to these peonies regularly."
The Abbot happily consented.
Thus, every other day, rain or shine, Cui Shiyuan would come to the temple to care for the peonies.
Approximately two years later, with the temple's expansion requiring the removal of the peony garden to build a new pagoda, the Abbot delayed the demolition, particularly waiting for Cui Shiyuan to come by to explain the situation to him.