A tale unfolds where two rivers meet, beneath a willow whose branches sweep the earth like an old man’s beard. It is said this tree remembers every secret ever whispered to it—lovers’ vows, a merchant’s regrets, a soldier’s last prayer before battle. One evening, a young scholar, lost in thought, rested against its trunk. As wind stirred the leaves, they seemed to murmur a forgotten poem about moonlight on water. He listened, and in that moment, understood that stories never truly fade; they ...
