During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a scholar named Xue Gui in Changning Prefecture, Hunan Province. He was a well-known filial son, but filial piety could not be eaten as a meal, and it was about to be the New Year. Not to mention chicken, duck, and fish at home, even the tank containing the chaff was about to bottom out.

That night, frowning, he accidentally came to a plum garden outside the city and looked at the plum blossoms blooming under the moonlight, and burst into tears. Suddenly, there was a movement not far away, and he took a closer look. Next to a plum tree, there was a woman picking plum blossoms from a basket. He felt very strange. At this time, the girl also saw him. "Big brother, are you also here to pick plum blossoms?" The girl asked softly. Xue Gui didn't dare to look up and said, "No, Xiaosheng is here for a stroll. But, girl, do you pick plum blossoms at night for medicine or for viewing?" "I thought you knew." The girl looked around and was sure that no one was there before she said, "You don't know about the appearance of the Bodhisattva the day before yesterday?" Xue Gui said, "I'm ashamed, Xiaosheng doesn't know." "I think you are also an honest person, so I'll tell you."

The girl said that when the Bodhisattva appeared, she was burning incense in the temple, and she heard a voice saying to her, "If you pick plum blossoms that are dewy before midnight and put them on your pillow and sleep on your pillow, if you think about something before going to bed, you will dream about it. Although Xue Gui didn't quite believe it, his curiosity drove him, so he picked some plum blossoms, put them in his robe, and went home and put them on his pillow. Lying on his pillow, he first thought of something for the New Year, and fell asleep thinking about it. Sure enough, he dreamed that an old man said to him, "Child, come to me tomorrow, and you will have something for the New Year."

The next day, Xue Gui got up early, followed the route in his dream, came to a mountain outside the city, and found a cave in his dream halfway up the mountain. He tried to enter the cave, and immediately an unpleasant smell came. Immediately, an old voice sounded: "Who… ah?" Xue Gui followed the voice and walked over and saw a scrawny old man lying in the middle of a pile of straw. The old man said that he had no children and no daughters. He was originally a hunter at the foot of the mountain, and because of the loan sharks, he was forced to sell his house and live on this mountain. A few days ago, he suddenly fell seriously ill and thought he would die in the cave. Unexpectedly, the Bodhisattva sent him a good man. After saying that, the old man swallowed it.

Xue Gui had to run down the mountain, borrow a shovel, wrap the old man in his robe, carry him to a mountain slope, and find a depression with soil, ready to bury the old man. Thinking that he was here to find something for the New Year, but now he put on his robe, he smiled bitterly, he was old and young, and actually believed a girl's nonsense. Suddenly Xue Gui felt that the shovel touched something hard, and he carefully dug around a few times, revealing a clay pot. Opening the lid and reaching out to touch it, there was a string of copper coins inside. Although it wasn't much, it was more than enough for the family to buy meat for the New Year. Xue Gui couldn't help himself. He buried the old man, kowtowed to the old man three times, and then went down the mountain with the copper coins.

In the evening, Xue Gui came to Meiyuan again, wanting to see if the girl was still coming, but after waiting all night, no one was seen. After that, Xue Gui came again and again, but there was still no shadow of the girl. On New Year's Eve, Xue Gui's family made pork dumplings and set off firecrackers for the first time, and had a good year.

That day, soon as Xue Gui went out of the gate, he heard the noise of people in the street. When he asked, he said that the emperor was sending troops to wash Hunan for some reason, and the north was already bleeding into rivers. In a few days, he will be in Changning Prefecture. Seeing that everyone else was fighting for their lives, Xue Gui's parents also advised his son to run away. Xue Gui thought that his parents were old and could no longer stand the bumps. If he ran away, what would his parents do? At night, Xue Gui lay on the kang, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Since the dream of money for the New Year, Xue Gui warned himself not to be greedy, so he put the plum blossom pillow in the cabinet. Tonight, he suddenly had the urge to quietly open the cabinet and take out the pillow. In a daze, he seemed to be standing in front of the throne hall. A man in a dragon robe was furious: "Nonsense! Who asked you to wash Hunan with blood? Hurry up and spread my will, stop killing immediately!" Seeing that one-handed servant ran out, the man in a dragon robe said again: "I just heard that someone on the streets of Hunan was insulting the queen, so I said the words'Hunan Street Kill 'in anger. These wine bags and rice bags actually understood my meaning as'Hunan Street Kill', which is ridiculous!"...

No matter whether the dream was true or not, Xue Gui decided not to run for his life anymore and went out to find something to do the next day. But the people on the street went to the store empty, and they couldn't find a living, so he had to go home. At this time, there was a roar of horses in the street, and the officers and soldiers of the massacre arrived. His parents asked Xue Gui to hide, but he opened the door and went to the street, pointing to an official-looking man and said loudly, "My lord, don't kill innocent people!"

When the official saw that someone dared to stop him, Tima came to Xue Gui and curled his mouth and said, "Where did the unknowingly evil people come from? I killed people according to the emperor's will..." "But the emperor didn't say to kill all the Hunan people!" Xue Gui said loudly, "The emperor said to kill those who caused trouble on the streets of Hunan!" The official didn't listen to this, and scolded and raised his knife to chop. At this moment, there was a hurried sound of hooves in the distance, and the people immediately shouted, "Yuan Tianzeng listens to the order!" The official quickly put away the knife, rolled off the saddle, and knelt on the street. When Xue Gui heard this, it was indeed the Emperor who ordered him to stop the killing. After Yuan Tianzeng took the order, he got on the horse again and said to his servants, "Come on, take this kid away!"

Arriving at the county office, Yuan Tianzeng shrugged and asked Xue Gui how he knew the emperor's decree in advance. Xue Gui said that he had dreamed it, and Yuan Tianzeng laughed. He said, "To tell you the truth, if you tell the emperor what you did today, you will be wiped out! I know that there are many strange people among the people, and I am a person who loves talent. I don't want to see you destroyed by the nine clans. If you are willing to cooperate with me, I promise that I will not tell a third person about your matter!" Xue Gui had no choice but to tell Yuan Tianzeng the origin of the plum blossom pillow. Yuan Tianzeng asked someone to go to Xue Gui's house to get the pillow, opened it, and saw that the plum blossoms inside were so bright that they seemed to be freshly picked, so he had to believe it. Yuan Tianzeng immediately talked to Xue Gui again.

It turned out that when Genghis Khan went south, he hid a batch of treasures in the nearby mountains, but many people failed to find them. When Yuan Tianzeng heard that Xue Gui's plum blossom pillow had this effect, he threatened Xue Gui to find the treasure for him. Xue Gui hated these evil officials, but when he thought of the two elders in his family, Xue Gui had no idea. That night Xue Gui came to the plum garden again and told the plum tree his heart. After a while, the plum picking girl came out of nowhere and stood in front of Xue Gui with a smile. The girl thought for a moment and said, "Don't be afraid. Tomorrow, you will bring Yuan Tianzeng to Kirin Mountain. There is a cave on the cliff there.

After saying that, the girl disappeared, and Xue Gui had a bright red plum blossom in his hand. The next day, Xue Gui brought Yuan Tianzeng to Kirin Mountain, and according to what the girl said, he found a cave on the cliff. In order not to let more people know about the treasure hunt, Yuan Tianzeng did not bring an entourage, but held the handle of the knife tightly in his right hand and followed Xue Gui. The two climbed to the edge of the cave smoothly. Yuan Tianzeng probed his head into the cave and took a look at the golden light inside, so shocked that he almost cried out. Seeing Yuan Tianzeng rush into the hole and laugh at the treasures, Xue Gui immediately turned and walked back. After walking for a while, he heard Yuan Tianzeng cursing behind him, "Damn boy, what kind of trick did you use? How did that gold turn into stone? Want to run? See if I won't kill you!... Hey? Damn, where's the road? Where did the road go? "

There was no way behind him, and Yuan Tianzeng was standing at the entrance of the cave, pointing at him and scolding him across the abyss. Xue Gui broke out in a cold sweat, so he hurried down the mountain, and when he looked down the mountain, Yuan Tianzeng's figure on the cliff had become very small... That night, Xue Gui couldn't wait to come to the plum garden and said to the plum blossom in his hand, "I know you saved me, but I don't know your name yet."

The plum blossom moved in the palm of his hand, and a voice said, "I don't have a name, I'm just a plum blossom. I've practiced for a thousand years and am about to become a human form, but this time I have lost five hundred years of power. It's still the patriarch's right. I'm a flower and you're a human, even if I mean it, you may not have feelings, even if you have feelings, we may not have that fate. Five hundred years later, I can become a human form again, but then you don't know where you went to reincarnate."

Xue Gui couldn't help but kiss the plum blossom deeply in his hand, and then watched the plum blossom slowly wither in his hands with tearful eyes…