Chapter Five: Dancing Grass
Name: Hua Ru
Gender: Female
Age: Looks twenty-six or seven
Occupation: Florist Shop Owner
Address: No. 133 Beimeicun North Village
When a person reaches old age, they often become disoriented due to suddenly being removed from busy work, and their existing lifestyle is thoroughly destroyed. In their youth, they wanted to do something but didn't have the time; now that they have plenty of time in hand, they don't know how to spend it, so nostalgia becomes a unique form of entertainment for the elderly.
When you were young, what kind of person did you like? What regrets did you have? What did you miss out on? When a person sits alone in the courtyard watering flowers and basking in the sun, it's hard to avoid thinking about their life. Every little thing seems to need to be recalled and savored, and those sweet and sour tastes seem to become even more vivid with age, rather than fading away with time. So you often hear people say "If only I had done this or that back then". This is called having regrets. If, if a person could relive their life, what would they do?
Mrs. Fang is seventy-five years old this year, and her body is still quite strong. Her family is harmonious, and she has achieved great success in her career. Looking back on her life, she became a professor at a prestigious university when she was young, won national-level research honors in middle age, and by the time she retired, she had made indelible contributions to academia and left a lasting legacy with her students. Her husband has loved her for decades, and their children are very filial. Their living conditions are comfortable, and from every aspect, it can be said that she has lived a fulfilling and happy life. However, Mrs. Fang always had an unresolvable knot in her heart, a regret that she never told anyone about, not even her husband or children, nor did she ever express it publicly. She herself hadn't thought about it for a long time either. Unexpectedly, this deep-seated regret from decades ago has become increasingly prominent over the years and finally caught up with her, to the point where her husband occasionally notices and asks about it out of concern. Of course, Mrs. Fang never told anyone about the deepest secret buried in her heart since she was a young girl - a dream from her youth.
Miss Fang was born into a family of scholars, her father being the director of a prestigious school and her mother, although not from a noble family, was well-read and knowledgeable. It can be imagined that such parents would raise excellent children, and young Miss Fang indeed grew up to be healthy, honest, and outstanding in both character and talent, a pillar of the nation. During the most rebellious period of adolescence, around 15 or 16 years old, Miss Fang remained obedient and well-behaved, under her father's guidance she set her life goal for the future: to become a leading figure in the field of physics! Nobody knew that what young Miss Fang secretly yearned for was not national honors but a pair of white dancing shoes worth $1.80, nor did they know that she wanted to be a ballet dancer rather than a master of physics. This small wish had just sprouted when it was covered by a beautiful veil, which lasted for 60 years. Now, what Miss Fang wants most is to realize this small dream hidden in her heart, if only she had chosen to dance back then, how would things be now? If... really, is there an "if"?
Mrs. Fang found it strange that she had only gone to the downtown garden, just a five-minute walk from home, to exercise, but somehow ended up at this bustling market, and then strolled around and arrived at this glass house flower shop, and couldn't understand why she had taken a liking to this ugly-looking black seed in her hand.
"This is called dancing grass."
The owner of the flower shop, a pretty woman in her mid-twenties, told her so.
"If you are willing to share your life with the dancing grass, then it will share its body with you."
That beautiful boss was watering while saying so lightly.
"In other words, if you divide your remaining lifespan in half and give it to it, then you can use its young body to do the things you want to do but can't."
Mrs. Fang had spent her whole life studying science and never believed in supernatural powers, but this time she was shaken. Plus, the boss's wife said that the seed was free, so within a moment, Mrs. Fang was already holding the strange plant seed called "dancing grass" on her way home. As the sun set, Mrs. Fang looked back and was surprised to see that the market had disappeared without a trace, which made her exclaim at home about incredible things like time and space errors, scaring her husband so much that he almost dialed 120.
A miracle happened soon! Fang Lao Tai's dancing grass sprouted under her diligent watering on the second day, grew small leaves on the third day, and became a human figure with four limbs and a trunk on the fourth day. From the fifth day on, Fang Lao Tai disappeared during the day, and the young girl Fang Yan Shu reappeared on the stage of life.
"Grandma, a new student transferred to our class and she's really pretty!" The granddaughter who attends ballet classes occasionally visits her elderly grandmother and mentions the new student.
"Old partner, why are you never at home during the day recently?" The old man, who was still devoting himself to his studies at the university for seniors, couldn't help but complain a little as he called home and no one answered.
"Teacher Fang, recently a new student transferred to the dance class. The girl dances very well and has a noble air about her, it's really quite unusual!" Sun's ballet teacher, who was one of Teacher Fang's students, also brought up the topic of the transfer student when visiting Teacher Fang.
"Mom, you've been looking much better lately, is there some good news?" The daughter-in-law had brought over clothes for a young girl on behalf of Old Lady Fang, and although she found it strange, she was still happy for Old Lady Fang's health.
"Old companion, it's raining so heavily outside, why are you still hanging the clothes in the rain?" The old man helplessly picked up the wet and dripping clothes to rewash them.
Mrs. Fang smiled at the old man with a twinkle in her eye, but her mind had already wandered to the ballet moves she learned today.
Time passed day by day, and everyone felt that Old Lady Fang had become a bit strange. She was never seen during the day, and at night, no one knew what she was thinking about. She was mysterious all day long. Her children thought she was just not used to retirement, so they tried various ways to cheer her up. They sent her a bunch of flowers, birds, fish, and insects, but Old Lady Fang didn't mind. Every day, she still smiled happily as she did in her youth, Fang Xiangshu.
On the day of the ballet class graduation performance, Fang Xiangruo got the opportunity to play the female lead due to her outstanding dance skills and unparalleled noble aura. She danced "Swan Lake". Fang Xiangruo changed into a noble black tutu, with black feathers on her head, looking elegant and proud, exuding a magical charm and girlish innocence. The Black Swan received thunderous applause from the audience as soon as she appeared on stage. When performing the segment where Odile seduces the prince, which required 30 turns of fouetté, Fang Xiangruo rotated effortlessly with one foot as the axis, under the dazzling lights, the applause was deafening. On the 23rd and 24th turn, at the 25th circle, Fang Xiangruo suddenly wobbled slightly, this slight wobble went unnoticed by the audience below. After that, the Black Swan continued to rotate, on the 30th turn Odile stopped dancing, covered her face, elegantly exited the stage, leaving behind a bewildered prince and thousands of audience members in the theater. The mysterious beauty Fang Xiangruo disappeared from then on, and the ballet world gained an inexplicable legend that would be passed down for centuries.
Various accounts of the mysterious beauty girl incident were only heard by Old Lady Fang later on. On the day of the ballet performance, the entire Fang family went to watch the show, simply because their granddaughter, Fang Lei, was playing a little swan in the Swan Group, but then the lead actor disappeared and the performance was cancelled. The Fang family returned home, discussing it among themselves, only to find Old Lady Fang fast asleep on her bed, with the potted plants on the windowsill blown over by the wind, the pot broken, mud scattered, and the grass dead. Afraid that Old Lady Fang would be heartbroken, the Fang children bought another bunch of flowers and plants to show filial piety to their mother.
Mrs. Fang still didn't mind, and with a smile, she accepted everything. From then on, Mrs. Fang returned to her usual self, the old man no longer had to worry about not having anyone to collect clothes on rainy days, and the children no longer had to worry about their mother's condition every day, trying to think of ways to make her happy. However, when the children and her husband were all out, Mrs. Fang would sit alone in the courtyard watering flowers and sunbathing. Occasionally, she would take out a pair of white dance shoes and look at them with a smile, that kind of gaze, if you looked closely, was undoubtedly that of young Fang Xueyu.
