As a child, Shen Fu enjoyed observing the natural world. He would imagine that mosquitoes were cranes, letting them into his bedroom and blowing smoke among them so that they looked to be flying through a cloudy sky. Once, he was so engrossed watching two insects fight that when they were swallowed by a toad he was momentarily scared himself, before recovering and scolding the animal. On another occasion, an earthworm bit his genitals while he was squatting in the grass, causing them to swell so badly that he couldn’t urinate. His family tried to help by holding a duck’s head to his groin, duck saliva being the prescribed cure, but Shen Fu screamed so loudly for fear of being pecked that the incident became a family joke.

As he grew into adulthood, Shen Fu became deeply interested in the cultivation and arrangement of flowers. Orchids are his favorite flowers, and his teacher gifted him an outstanding specimen that died suddenly after only a few years in his possession. Shen Fu was distraught, swore never again to grow orchids, and later learnt that a jealous acquaintance poured boiling water over the flower to kill it. His second favorite flowers are azaleas, but he always had difficulty cultivating them since

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