Chapter 56: Withered Willow Meets Spring
The morning mist was like gauze, lightly veiling the Small Courtyard. Chen An carried a clay bucket toward the well. The bottom still held the murky water from washing dishes the night before—flecks of grease floated on the surface, mixed with a few rotten vegetable leaves, while the gray-white sky was reflected in the water.
As usual, he walked three zhang beyond the fence, tilted his wrist, and splashed the wastewater toward the gnarled Withered Willow. The water spread over its charred-black roots and seeped into the cracked soil, leaving behind only a few damp marks.
"Waste not, want not. Might as well use it as fertilizer." He muttered to himself and turned back toward the courtyard. The Withered Willow remained utterly still, its cracked bark like the dry, withered back of an old man's hand as it stood silently in the wind.
On the morning of the third day, Chen An shoved open the courtyard gate—and suddenly stopped in his tracks.
The Withered Willow's gnarled branches were still grotesque, but several cracks in the bark near its roots had somehow begun to seep with faint traces of moisture! They were not dew, but tiny glimmers of vitality emerging from deep within the bark. Curious, he walked closer and crouched down for a better look—
"Huh?"
In a gap between the charred roots, a tender green shoot no larger than a grain of rice was struggling to push through the dead bark! Its green hue was as faint as firefly light, yet so vividly alive that it seemed almost dazzling—like the first eye opening in a dark abyss.
By the seventh day, every strange sign had become obvious, impossible for ordinary eyes to ignore.
New Shoots Through Decay: The timid patch of tender green