By the lake, there is a wishing tree (a story about the true meaning of love)

Author: Chen Jiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
Features: There is a wishing tree by the lake
Once, in a village, there was a boy who was about to go to war. A girl who had promised to spend her life with him silently made a wish every day and buried a seed by the lake. The girl carefully nurtured every seed, for she firmly believed that whenever a seed sprouted, the wish it carried would come true. Her friend asked her what wish she had made, but she just shook her head and smiled, refusing to answer. The only wish she made was to hope that he would be safe.
However, when the war ended, the boy did not return. The girl still devotedly tended every seed she had planted for him, even though five years after the war, the villagers all urged her to give up. Her parents had arranged for her to meet one family after another, but the girl remained unmoved.