can't remember which dynasty the Caozhou peony was from. There was a young man named Chang Dayong in Luoyang. This man looks like a scholar, but he is actually a "flower maniac". He has loved peonies since he was a child, and his biggest dream in life is to enjoy peonies all over the world. Once, Chang Dayong accidentally heard someone mention that the peonies in Caozhou are the best in Qi and Lu, so he traveled through mountains and rivers to Caozhou (now Heze, Shandong) to see how the peonies here are "the best". Inspired by his enthusiasm, a kind person gave him a piece of information: there was a nobleman named Xu in Caozhou City, and there were many rare peonies planted in the back garden of his home. Chang Dayong was very happy and immediately found this nobleman and asked to stay in his back garden. It was early spring, the weather was warm and cold, the peony flowers had not yet arrived, and the branches and leaves had just turned green. Chang Dayong wandered in the garden every day, reluctant to leave. After a while, the peony grew full buds, but Chang Dayong's purse was deflated. In order to make a living, he had to pawn his clothes and exchange money for a living. Even so, Chang Dayong still happily wandered around the garden, waiting for the peony to bloom. He only loves peonies and not money, and Chang is really a "flower maniac". Sincerity can make things happen. One morning, Chang Dayong went to the garden to visit the peonies again, and suddenly saw a beautiful girl and a white-haired old woman standing by the flowers. Ah! The young lady from the Xu Mansion came to enjoy the flowers, I have to hide back in the study! Chang Dayong is a good young man who knows books and is well-mannered. He remembers the teachings of the saints not to look at anything indecent, so he didn't dare to stay for long and quickly ran back to his residence. In the evening, thinking that the young lady should leave, Chang Dayong came to the garden again, but saw that the old and the young were still there. Is this young lady also a flower lover? Chang Dayong couldn't help hiding behind the tree and secretly looked at the girl. She had snow-white skin and a beautiful face, smiling like a fairy. At this moment, Chang Dayong's soul was hooked! Seeing that the beautiful woman's colorful skirt fluttered and disappeared, he hurriedly chased after her, wanting to take another look. After turning around a rockery, he just made eye contact with the beautiful woman, and before he could say half a word, Cheng Yaojin appeared halfway, and the old woman stopped him fiercely: "How dare you tease the famous lady! I will go back and report to the adults and bring you to the government to punish!" Chang Dayong was panicked and apologized repeatedly. Unexpectedly, the girl smiled and helped him out, saying to the old woman: "Let him go!" After returning to the study, Chang Dayong became more and more afraid, fearing that the old woman would really find people from the government to catch him. But the more afraid he was, the more he thought about it, thinking about the peerless grace of the lady, and wanted to see her again. After thinking about it, the poor scholar actually fell into lovesickness. He was sick for three days and did not get better. His face was pale and haggard. Late that night, Chang Dayong was lying on the bed groaning, when suddenly the door rang and the old woman came in with a bowl in her hand. She walked to the bed, handed him the bowl and said, "Mr. Chang, this is the poison prepared by my wife Ge Jin for you, drink it quickly!" Chang Dayong was so scared that he sat up and stammered, "I, I, I have no grudges against the young lady, why did she harm me?" The old woman said, "Stop talking nonsense, just drink it when I tell you to!" Chang Dayong thought of the girl's voice and smile, and made up his mind: It's rare that the young lady can think of me. Instead of being sick with lovesickness, it's better to take medicine and die! So he took the bowl and drank it all. The old woman left with a smile, and Chang Dayong also went to bed with his clothes on. Strangely enough, after a bowl of "poison" was swallowed, Chang Dayong not only did not die, but became more energetic! When he woke up, he felt refreshed and relaxed, and then he knew that what he drank was not poison, but a magical medicine. So he happily got dressed and got up, and ran to the garden excitedly, hoping to meet the girl Ge Jin again, so as to express his gratitude to her. Coincidentally, Miss Ge Jin was also admiring the flowers in the garden. Seeing Chang Dayong coming, she smiled and asked, "Is the young master's illness cured?" Chang Dayong said gratefully, "Thanks to the bowl of 'poison' prepared by the young lady herself!" The two were talking and laughing, but saw the old woman coming over here. Ge Jin hurriedly said, "This is not the place for you and me to talk. Over the high wall of this garden, the one with red windows on all sides is my -. If you are interested, you may as well come tonight." After saying that, he hurried away. That night, Chang Dayong took advantage of the night and slipped into Ge Jin's - to meet her. The two were about to linger, and suddenly heard a woman's laughter outside the window. Ge Jin hurriedly pushed Chang Dayong under the bed: "Sister Yuban is here, you hide quickly!" Chang Dayong secretly looked through the crack of the bed, and saw that the woman who came in was as beautiful as Ge Jin. Yuban dragged Ge Jin to her room to play chess, but she didn't come back all night. Chang Dayong was very disappointed and returned home in frustration. Fortunately, Ge Jin understood his thoughts and took the initiative to change the rendezvous place and went to Chang Dayong's residence to meet him. Chang Dayong was so lucky in love that he was surprised and happy. He even treated a foreign place as his hometown and didn't even want to go back to Luoyang. After a few days, Ge Jin said to Chang Dayong, "It's not a good idea to be so sneaky all the time. Why don't we elope to avoid gossip from others?" Chang Dayong couldn't ask for it, so he didn't care about appreciating the peonies anymore. He rushed back to Luoyang day and night, cleaned the house, and married Ge Jin. His family was very happy to see that he had married such a beautiful daughter-in-law, and the neighbors came to congratulate him. But Chang Dayong had a younger brother named Chang Daqi, who was only seventeen years old and had not yet married. Seeing that he was handsome and talented, Ge Jin discussed with her husband: "Do you remember my sister Yuban? How about giving her to your brother?" Chang Dayong certainly had no objection; Chang Daqi had no objection when he heard that Yuban was a beauty. So Ge Jin sent the old woman to drive to Caozhou to pick up Yuban and arranged for her to marry Chang Daqi. The Chang brothers were overjoyed to have a beautiful woman. Ge Jin and Yuban were clever and good at managing the family, and soon led the Chang family to a "well-off" life. Two years later, Ge Jin and Yuban each had a son, and their lives became happier. It is said that with such a happy life, Chang Dayong could be happy secretly, but he didn't! There was always a doubt in his heart, that is: what is the origin of his wife? Ge Jin once told him: his surname is Wei, and his mother is the wife of Cao Guo. Chang Dayong didn't believe it, he thought: there is no family with the surname Wei in Caozhou; besides, if his wife is really the daughter of a wealthy family, why don't her parents pursue their daughter's elopement? One day, a group of robbers came from nowhere. They surrounded the small building of Chang Dayong's house, and the leader shouted angrily: "We have two requests: first, we have 58 brothers here, please give us 500 taels of silver each; second, I heard that the two ladies in your house are rare in the world, please come out and let us see." The Chang brothers saw that the criminals not only robbed money, but also raped, and they were very angry and refused. The robbers were angry and gathered firewood to surround the building, threatening the Chang brothers that if they did not agree to their conditions, they would burn down the Chang family. While talking, Ge Jin and Yu Ban ignored Chang Dayong's obstruction and went out of the building in their best clothes. They stood on the steps and shouted loudly: "We sisters are fairies who have come down to earth, why should we be afraid of you? Even if we give you ten thousand taels of gold, do you dare to take it?" Of course, the robbers did not believe it, and instead of retreating, they advanced. Ge Jin and Yu Ban waved their sleeves, and the group of robbers staggered and could not stand steadily. So, these fifty-eight "good men" didn't ask for money or sex, and fled in panic. The neighbors were surprised to see these two beautiful women easily knock down a group of strong men, and they all said that they were flower demons. Chang Dayong had heard rumors many times and was full of doubts. It was inconvenient to ask Ge Jin, so he went to Caozhou alone to look for her. When he arrived in Caozhou, he visited the Xu family where he had originally stayed. He happened to see a poem "Presented to Madam Cao" hanging on the wall, so he asked the owner who Madam Cao was. The owner smiled and led him to the back garden, pointed to a tall purple peony and said, "This is 'Madam Cao'. It's named because this flower is so beautiful and unparalleled, and it's the best in Caozhou." Chang Dayong was shocked and returned to Luoyang in a daze. When he got home, he didn't say anything, but just pretended to recite the poem "Presented to Madam Cao" unintentionally. Ge Jin's face turned pale when she heard this. She called out Yu Ban, picked up the child, and cried to Chang Dayong, saying, "Three years ago, I was moved by your deep affection, so I repaid you with my body and married you. Now that you have revealed the truth, what's the point of getting together again?!" Yu Ban also burst into tears and said, "Sister, how can we flower fairies allow others to be suspicious? Let's keep the order of heaven and go!" After that, Ge Jin and Yu Ban threw the child into the distance and turned away. Strangely, the child disappeared as soon as he landed. A few days later, two peonies grew where the two children landed, one purple and one white, with flowers as big as plates. In order to commemorate Ge Jin and Yu Ban, the Chang brothers named them "Ge Jin Purple" and "Yu Ban White". Other versions of peony, also known as wood peony, Luoyang flower, Guyu flower, deer leek, etc. It is a perennial deciduous shrub of the Ranunculaceae family. In my country, peony is the king of flowers and peony is the flower phase. In the east of Sanhe Village, Shibi Township, at the site of the original Buddhist temple, there grows a cluster of white peonies more than five feet high, which the local people call "divine peony". According to research, this white peony is the largest single wild peony found in my country so far. In the ancient "Yueyang County Chronicles", it is recorded that "there is a white peony in the Sanhe Buddhist Temple, with repeated flowers and leaves, white petals like jade, and golden stamens in the middle. When the flower blooms, the fragrance spreads for miles." According to the recollections of the 80-year-old people in this village, since they can remember, whenever the flowers bloom, people from the surrounding villages come in groups to enjoy the flowers. Among the flower-viewing people, many come to ask for medicine and fulfill their vows. Why is a cluster of peony flowers so magical? There is such a beautiful legend circulating among the local people. According to legend, in 690 AD, Wu Zetian, the empress of the Tang Dynasty, changed the Tang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, and initially ruled the world with confidence. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, she summoned civil and military ministers to hold a banquet for 10,000 people to celebrate her achievements. At the banquet, when everyone was in high spirits, they opened the window to enjoy the snow and the scenery. Suddenly, they smelled a fragrance wafting in. After careful observation, they found that the wintersweet flowers were blooming in the cold. Wu Zetian then ordered people to serve with writing brush and ink, and issued an edict while drunk: "I will visit Shangyuan tomorrow and report the arrival of spring as soon as possible. The flowers must bloom overnight and don't wait for the evening wind to blow." After receiving the imperial edict, all the flowers in Shanglin Garden of the imperial garden blossomed overnight, except the peony, which did not want to flatter the emperor and did not bloom. The next morning, the officials of the Zhou Dynasty were excited to visit Shanglin Garden, but they saw hundreds of flowers in full bloom, but no peonies were seen. This angered Wu Zetian, who ordered the burning of 2,000 peonies and the expulsion of the rest from the capital to Luoyang, where they were renamed "Luoyang Flowers". On the way to Luoyang, a white peony took on a fairy shape and turned into a girl in white. She was afraid of another natural disaster and wanted to find a quiet place to live in peace, so she escaped halfway and headed north. After several days and nights of travel, she came to Sanhe Village, where there was a river in front of the village and a mountain behind it. The scenery was beautiful and charming. The Peony Fairy was attracted by the beautiful scenery here, and she loved the beautiful morning light of the Sanhe villagers who lived diligently and quietly. The fairy took a rest in Sanhe Village and walked eastward for another day. The more she walked, the more she saw that there were fewer people, barren mountains and ridges, and everything was desolate. She stopped walking and hired a donkey cart to return to Sanhe Village. The driver was an old farmer. When the sun was about to set, they arrived in front of the Buddhist temple east of Sanhe Village. The fairy jumped off the car and said, "Go into the temple to make a wish, and pay the fare when you come out." The old farmer waited and waited but did not see the fairy come out. Seeing that it was getting dark, he walked up and knocked on the door of the temple. An old monk came out. The old farmer told the old monk what happened, but the old monk did not see the girl go into the temple to make a wish, but he had no choice but to pay the carriage fare for the girl. In the spring of the second year, a white peony grew in the temple courtyard. After the Grain Rain Festival, it bloomed with white jade-like flowers. The flowers were as big as plates and exuded bursts of fragrance. Four more peonies grew around the white peony. People nearby said they were the four personal maids of the peony fairy. The peony grew more and more prosperous, and in a few years, it grew to five feet high. Later, a wealthy family in a neighboring village wanted to take the peony for themselves, so they moved the peony to their yard. After the peony was moved, it withered day by day, and the family also had a series of disasters. The owner of the family quickly transplanted the dead peony to its original place. Unexpectedly, the peony sprouted new buds from the roots, and in a few years it grew as tall as before. Peonies survived the disaster, and their proud bones became stronger. They did not bloom in troubled times, but were full of branches in prosperous times. Strangely enough, the locals said that whenever the white peony was lush and leafy, the Sanhe area would have good weather and good harvests; if the Sanhe area encountered a disaster, the peony would wither and turn yellow. It is said that during the Cultural Revolution, this peony never prospered. This may be the reason why she is called "divine peony"! The magnificent, colorful and fragrant peony has high ornamental value and medicinal value. Peony root bark is mainly used as medicine. Due to the wide variety of peony varieties, the ancients also had choices when using it. "It is best to use red and white single petals as medicine. The rest are impure and not suitable for medicinal use." Its medicinal name is moutan bark, which has a history of more than 2,000 years. It is a wonderful product for cooling blood and removing blood stasis. Information source: Shandong Provincial Information Network Information source: Shandong Provincial Information Network