The Superman of Pickled Vegetables: Farewell to the Rose
Pickled vegetables have already become a superman, able to fly in the sky, swim in the deep sea, walk on walls, see in the dark, and speak many foreign languages. He can also understand the language of all animals.
After gaining the ability to fly and swim, Pickled Vegetables confidently prepared to go see the rose. Before he went, in order to lighten his suspiciously soy-sauce colored skin, he soaked himself in vinegar overnight to make his skin whiter. Then he sprayed perfume, put on a cloak made of white clouds, and flew gracefully towards the nursery like a great swordsman. At that moment, no one could tell that he was once the pitch-black head of pickled vegetables.
Because he had been nursing his wings, it had been a long time since Pickled Vegetables had visited the nursery, and he didn't know how the rose was doing now. As he flew, he excitedly thought: How will she react when she sees me?
Finally, he arrived at the nursery but turned left and right without finding the rose. Having no choice, he went to find the foxtail grass, who then took him to find the butterfly. However, the butterfly told him that there was no need to go because the rose had already married. Upon hearing this, Pickled Vegetables almost fainted. Gathering his strength, he asked whom the rose had married. The butterfly said it was the wind. Hearing this, the foxtail grass beside him said that the wind was so fickle and unworthy, how could the rose marry him? But the wind is elegant and debonair, besides, the wind is romantic and has a similar character to the rose, they are of the same type, why wouldn't it be good? The butterfly countered. I must go and see her, Pickled Vegetables firmly said. The butterfly was unwilling to take him, so Pickled Vegetables told the butterfly about these years of struggle for the rose, and how he became a superman. After hearing this, the butterfly was deeply moved and took Pickled Vegetables to see the rose.
By then, the rose had already moved into a greenhouse. Although the conditions were good, the rose was no longer the rose in the wind from those days. Her velvet-like petals had turned yellow, and the reserved shyness of her half-opened state had slackened into the vulgar appearance of a housewife. Most striking was her waist and neck. The fine waist of her youth now bulged with the beginning of new life; she had passed through her youth and was heading towards maturity.
When Pickled Vegetables saw her, he couldn't believe that this was the rose from before. When he confirmed it by her unchanged leaves and reserved nodding posture, Pickled Vegetables looked up to the sky and sighed: Time! Heaven! Why are you so cruel and heartless? Why does maturity come with aging and ugliness? In your eyes, youth blinks away into withered flowers, beauty turns instantly into the vulgar, you are more terrible than all witchcraft. Time is very fair. It lets all lives (including animals and plants) go through growth, youth, maturity, and old age, regardless of nobility or poverty, without favoritism. He is the fairest one, not just letting us foxtail grasses turn yellow and die in winter, the foxtail grass said beside him.
Seeing the rose in this state, Pickled Vegetables lost interest in speaking with her. Years of hope had become an illusion, and efforts over many days had lost their meaning. He suddenly felt very disheartened and got up to return home.
He originally thought that the rose would be dead to him after this, and he would never think of her again. But when he returned home, he realized that he still missed the rose, missing her half-opened posture, missing her reserved nodding. The rose still lived in his heart, which made him confused. He didn't know what he was really yearning for or who he truly wanted.
One day, tormented by thoughts of the rose and having nowhere to escape, he jumped up and pointed to the sky, saying: Damn it, if I, Pickled Vegetables, can become a superman and completely transform myself, I don't believe I can't become a super god and reverse time, restoring the rose to her original self.
From then on, Pickled Vegetables began to strive and progress towards becoming a super god.