As a child who is addicted to books, he must have dreamed of Jiangnan. I am a child who has never been to Jiangnan, so my Jiangnan dream is more of a pure dream. Children from Jiangnan said that what I dreamed about was a Jiangnan that was too superficial. Children who came from the north to study in Jiangnan told me that what I dreamed about was a Jiangnan that was too perfect. But no matter what, this is the Jiangnan dream in my ancient book. And in the Jiangnan dream woven from these poems and songs, one image that cannot escape is the plum.

The ancients have always said that the spring scenery in Jiangnan is good, the lotus flowers in Jiangnan are abundant in summer, and the autumn pistils in Jiangnan are abundant. Winter always seems chilling. Although it is not as bone-chilling as in the north, it is a plain color splashed with light ink, damp and cold. And what shines brightly among the plain colors is the plum tree. There are too many poems praising plum blossoms. There are several branches of red and white plum trees in the corner, their sparse shadows are floating sideways and their fragrance is floating in the air. Children in Jiangnan told me that plum blossoms actually bloom in early spring rather than in the cold winter, but I stubbornly believe that plum blossoms are a kind of winter spirit. Maybe it's the sequelae of confusing plum and wintersweet when I was a child, or maybe it's because of another obsession: plum and snow must coexist.

Plum and snow, these two spirits of winter, have a wonderful relationship. For thousands of years, their dancing together seemed to be the most beautiful sight, but when they really danced together, they often competed with each other for the best spot. Then there were poets who paid for writing reviews, and there was the moderate comment that "the plum blossoms are three points whiter than the snow, but the snow is less fragrant than the plum blossoms." However, Mei and Xue may have been non-committal about these comments. At most, they made a perfect arc at the corners of their mouths, then turned their eyes and continued dancing with their best friends. Xue and Mei are mutual friends. The kind of confidant who lives in mountains and rivers, the kind of confidant who somewhat excludes everyone except the other person. When the snow lies thousands of miles white on the desert outside the Great Wall, I wonder if I will miss the plum blossoms in the pass; when the plum blossoms are soaked in the cold rain in winter and turn red all over the ground, I wonder if I will miss the cold but gentle snow. This pair of close friends is so close in all the poems that the picture without either one is incomplete.

"Flowers in the corner! When you admire your flowers alone, the world becomes small." Although this poem is about flowers in general, I have always stubbornly believed that it is about plums. Everyone has a different understanding of this poem, and many people say it is a criticism of a character that is too proud of itself. But the flower in my eyes is a proud elf, exuding a noble aura, as pure and cold as snow, looking down on all living beings.

So I said in my Jiangnan dream, walking in the snow to look for plum blossoms.

But would I really go walking in the snow to look for plum blossoms?

Walking in the snow to look for plum blossoms means placing your feet on the white snow to look for traces of plum blossoms. Is this some kind of injustice to Snow? I believe that Mei does not want anyone to walk in the snow to look for Mei, even if the snow is willing, even if that person is a sweetheart. I am a child from the north. In winter, I see lots of snow, which is really like goose feathers. However, snow is most beautiful only when it is pure white, so I always don’t want to walk on empty plains in snowy weather - the wanton and noble pure white, the footprints are a stain. I would rather stand in a corner and watch the snowflakes melt on my eyelashes as pure as a tear, watch my breath flying with the snow in the wind, watch the snowflakes dance under the orange-yellow line-like street lights at night, reflecting the clear phantom. If this is the case for ordinary people like us, let alone Mei, who is a close friend of Xue?

So I don’t like sleet and snow, just like I don’t like plum blossoms in the rain. Although I also like rain, sleet is a very tangled existence. Rain cannot maintain its spontaneity, and snow cannot maintain its persistence. The result was just a muddy mess on the ground. The black mud splashed up and stuck to the soles of the shoes, and with the footsteps, it stained the last bits of crystal snow that had remained in other places. There is no light refracted by the ice crystals left on the body, only a few wet spots and stubble on the ice. If there is some half-melted snow on the ground, it will be gray and slippery. Therefore, I am even more glad that I was born in the north. The snow I see is more of a thick blanket of snow, which falls thoroughly without any tangle of tepidness. And plum blossoms do not belong to rain. The plum blossoms in the rain are too heavy, and they are so heavy that they cannot be shaken off. They are filled with bone marrow pressure and desolation.

So, I love Mei Xue’s dance together even more. And this title should probably be——

Mengxue Youmei...