More than 2,000 years ago, the Song Kingdom was in Mengdi, a mansion, standing quietly, simple and elegant.

The morning came as promised, and the sun was gorgeous.

Zhuang Zhou, the owner of the house, got up, and suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves outside the door from far and near, and he seemed to have some kind of premonition. Sure enough, the sound of horses' hooves stopped at the door of his house, and then there was a knock on the door, and someone shouted loudly: "Is Mr. Zixiu at home?" Zhuang Zhou motioned for the servant to open the door, but saw an old man standing outside the door, his face full of wind and dust, and he was looking at his head. Zhuang Zhou was surprised, thinking that he didn't know the person in front of him, and said, "May I ask Mr. Zhuangzi?" The old man nodded and said: "Exactly, exactly! My master is the minister of the Song Kingdom, and Mr. Wen is a person who is beyond the world, has great wisdom, and has a special appointment for the old servant to ask for difficult things, Mr. Wanwang should not postpone it!"

Zhuang Zhou was displeased, thinking that a few days ago, the king of Chu hired me, but I still postponed it. A minister of the Song State actually sent an old servant to invite me, wouldn't he want to humiliate me? He said: "Don't you hear that the King of Chu hired me, and I said that there is a divine turtle in the State of Chu, which has been dead for 3,000 years, and the dry bones and tortoise shells are still treasured by the King of Chu. The old man smiled and said, "Sir has misunderstood! My master does have a difficult matter, and Mr. Shifei can't solve it." If you don't invite your husband to get involved in the world, your husband is a puffnut, how can you be like a rotten rat?"

Zhuang Zhou was relieved, and had some doubts about the old man's intention, and asked, "I don't know what your master is looking for me?" The old man frowned, and said: "It's a long story, let's ask Mr. to get in the car, and wait for me to tell Mr. slowly." ”

Zhuang Zhou's nature was free and easy, and when he heard the old man say this, he didn't have time to explain to the servant, so he got into the carriage and left home with the old man.

The carriage left the bluestone alley and headed north after leaving the city. Zhuang Zhou asked the reason for the incident. The old man sighed and said, "Speaking of which, it's also a strange thing!" Zhuang Zhou said "oh" and listened quietly. The old man said slowly: "My young son married a wife five years ago, he is sixteen years old, and he is unusually beautiful. After marriage, the husband and wife were filial to the United States, and the lord was very pleased. However, I gradually discovered a strange thing: after the young lady got married, she did not eat food, and she did not even drink water. At first, the family thought that the bride was shy, and later thought that the bride was sick. But for a long time, the water and rice did not enter. This is the case all year round, and the skin is even more beautiful. After another year, a son was born, and he took care of the housework all year round, and he never stopped weaving and needlework. It's been more than five years now, and it's no different from others, but according to Gongziyan, the young lady is cold when she sleeps at night, only a little warm on her chest, and she must pat the end of her nose in the morning to wake up, otherwise she will have to sleep all day long. Whenever I asked her, she said, 'I have another family, I am very wealthy, and now it is in my dream, when have you ever seen a man in my dream eating and drinking?'"

Zhuang Zhou was surprised, it was the first time he had heard of such a strange thing, and said: "I am not a doctor, I really can't diagnose it, what is the use of asking me?" The old man said: "The young lady is healthy as usual, so I don't want my husband to heal." In the past, Mr. skillfully talked about the three swords, and the country was prosperous in one word, and he was famous all over the world. My master asked my husband to explain the mystery. Zhuang Zhou was silent.

Within a day, the carriage arrived at Shangqiu, the capital of the Song Kingdom. Zhuang Zhou and the old man entered the Song State Prime Minister's Mansion, and the Minister of State went out to greet him, Zhuang Zhou did not have time to take care of it, but he saw the young son's wife, and it was indeed the beauty of sinking fish and geese, but there seemed to be depression between the eyebrows.

Zhuang Zhou said to the young lady: "I heard that the lady is in a dream, so do you see that everything in this world is true or false to you?" The young lady said: "Since I am in a dream, everything in front of me is naturally false. Zhuang Zhou smiled and said, "Why did Madame dream of this?" The young lady said: "I remember that I once had to paint a scroll of silk, and there was a son in the painting, and I longed for it, and I dreamed of it every night after falling asleep." The son in the painting is my husband at this time!" Zhuang Zhou was stunned and said, "When will the lady wake up?" Unexpectedly, when the young woman heard Zhuang Zhou's words, tears fell like rain, and she cried: "I don't want to wake up, as soon as I wake up, all the good things around me will come to naught!" I can't bear to abandon the husband and children in my dream, ...... Zhuang Zhou said: "However, all this is false, and after all, wake up, won't it only increase sadness?" The young lady said: "These days, I don't know what is a dream, what is reality, between the real and the unreal, how can there be a clear difference!" Can you be sure, sir, that you are not in a dream after decades of travel?"

After speaking, the young lady turned around and entered the room, and looked back and said, "Isn't everything in the world a dream?"

Zhuang Zhou suddenly sweated like rain, and his mind was like a lightning bolt, and his tongue froze for a while, and he didn't know what to say.

The night is as cool as water. A crescent moon hangs high in the night sky, cold and silent.

After Zhuang Zhou returned home, on this quiet night, he had a dream, a dream destined to last forever.

Zhuang Zhou and his clothes are lying down, the breeze is coming slowly, and everything is lonely, which is suitable for a good dream.

In the haze, Zhuang Zhou came to a large garden, purple and red, and the spring color was boundless. He flew into it and danced. ---- yes, he fluttered his wings and flew up, because in the dream he was a beautiful butterfly.

Where is this garden, Zhuang Zhou, no, the butterfly doesn't know, when it flew into this garden, the butterfly doesn't know. Even, it is very vague whether it is day or night in front of me. It just felt so familiar, so strange.

Suddenly, a giant hand reached out and grabbed the butterfly. The hand was like a suction, the palm was spread out, but the butterfly could not fly away, and it had to flutter its wings in vain. It looked up at the owner of the hand, an old man with a white beard, smiling mysteriously.

The butterfly felt that this face was somewhat familiar, and after thinking for a while, it suddenly realized: Isn't this herself? He is lying in the palm of his hand! The butterfly feels very strange, but it also feels that all this is real and mysterious.

The old man, or rather, spoke on its own, with that mysterious smile on its face: "Butterfly, Butterfly, where are you?" Butterfly wanted to speak, but couldn't. The old man continued, his voice faintly, near and far away, drifting in the moonlight: "Are you me, or am I you?"

The butterfly is silent, but it is ready to fly.

The moonlight vanished, thick dark clouds covered the sky, and a flash of light pierced the surrounding darkness and pierced the fluttering butterfly, and without a sound, the butterfly fell. Fall into an abyss......

Zhuang Zhou woke up. He heard dogs barking in the deep alleys, and the crowing of chickens in the distance.

He was a little overwhelmed, confused and forgetting where he was. He was silent in the darkness before the dawn.

He reminisced about that dream in the dark, in the dream, he was a butterfly, and he was also an old man, and when he woke up, he was Zhuang Zhou. However, just like the flash of light in the dream also pierced himself in reality, he thought: Did I dream that I had become a butterfly just now, or was that butterfly dreaming that I had become Zhuang Zhou at this time?

Am I still me? Is this body in the dark Zhuang Zhou who has become a butterfly, or has it become a butterfly that has become Zhuang Zhou?

Or, are both Zhuang Zhou and Butterfly a ghost?

Zhuang Zhou waited in silence for a dull day.