Huā’s Tribulation

(Pic cr. to the owner.)

Once, there was peaceful capital named Huā Chéng, or known as a flower city. As the name implies, the city was known for its picturesque and magnificent view of flower fields surrounding the capital. It was said that it is the flowers that bring peace and harmony to the capital. Alas, the peace did not last too long as a rare disease emerges and ravages the glorious country until it was nothing more than a field of ruined wreckage.

That incurable malady, those who are infected will experience several symptoms. After a few days, a lump would appear in certain part of their body which will slowly turn into something that look like a plant sprout. After a few days, the sprout will turn into a flower plant. In worst case, some of the people who was first infected by the disease had died with flowers flourishing through all of their seven orifices. Truly, it was such a breath-taking view, if only the pot was not a human. This occurrence has made the civilians horrified, thus begging for the royal family to find a cure to avert the calamity.

As the disease spread like wildfire, the prince has asked the anyone who has been infected to be quarantined. With that, the prince tried all sort of methods to alleviate the disease by trying every method but to no avail. Alas, he was in the midst of giving up until he found out that there’s one way to cure the plague, that is to take a warm sea salt bath. The infected people have to soak in the tub of warm sea salt water for 24 hours every three days until the flower bud could no longer be seen. According to the royal physician, salt is extremely fatal to plants, thus effective in stopping the growth of the plants.

            A few days passes by, and the disease has completely been cured. Those that survived, however, have a red spider lily blossom mark on the spot where the flower grew. In addition, there is rumor that persons who have been afflicted are able communicate with plants. Unfortunately, those who do not survive, died in a beautiful way.

According to hearsay, the malady was proclaimed as the Huā’s (flower) tribulation because it emerged when civilians indulged in severe logging and destroyed flower fields to build houses and structures. It's a flower tribulation to those ungrateful and selfish folks who care very little for the environment. Thus, the civilians are once again trying to revamp and revive the flower fields to avoid the wrath of the flowers' deathly spirit.