你我初见时，如牡丹万朵骤然开放，热烈而明快；如兰花之发而幽香，宁静悠远让人无法忘怀。初见的心悸与美妙，留下的展望和遐想，让人长久无法释怀。仍然记得初见时候那人的模样，会有一段时间觉得没有了她，“此去经年，应是良辰好景虚设，便纵有千种风情，更与何人说？”
可是，因为硝烟战火，因为世事难测，因为命运并不总如人愿，因为各自的自私与愚蠢，初见之后，便难再见。怀恋与感伤终究不是生活的全部，一旦分离，一旦有了各自的生活，便会有很多琐事，让你不再有时间和精力去回忆曾经的美妙或是遗憾。若上天可怜，两个人在年暮之时或是大局已定，一切无可挽回之时再相见，那一刻，明媚鲜妍早已不在，满眼鲜红翠绿被萧瑟荒凉所替代，两人心中充满了怅惘和无奈，只怪“上苍易改人容颜”，“流水落花春去也”，你我已经再也回不去从前了。
古人有很多听来让人感觉特别安慰的话语，比如“有缘千里来相会”，这让很多年轻人都对未来的幸福生活怀有梦想，认为就算远在天边，如果有缘，自己的另一半都会出现在自己的面前。可是同时，我们发现现在的社会里，相互无缘的人似乎越来越多，相遇了，认识了，然后又分开了，从此再不相见。
会怀疑古代的爱情，两个人的相爱是那么容易——姑娘不会对小伙子有诸多物质要求，小伙子也不会对姑娘的长相挑三拣四，提亲时姑娘在屏风后偷偷瞧一眼小伙子，觉得顺眼便无话可说了，结婚后再培养爱情，生活同样美妙；一生的忠贞相守是那么自然——“君当作磐石，妾当如蒲苇。蒲苇韧如丝，磐石无转移。
想想为什么古今之人会有这么大的区别，大概在于现代人接触的世界大了，可选择的范围广了，能够安分懂得珍惜的人反而少了，于是“人生若只如初见”这句话，才会引起那么多人的心理共鸣。
还是愿意相信那句话：“十年修得同船渡，百年修得共枕眠”，人与人之间的相遇是很不容易的，如能投缘，那是更不容易了。如果因为矜持，因为高傲，因为不自信而犹犹豫豫，而一味躲避、后退，或者因为一种游戏的态度而不懂珍惜，错过一段情缘，那么是会让人后悔一辈子的。即使多年之后再见，所有往事尘埃四起，心中苦涩伤痛之味弥漫，想要说声遗憾，想要时光倒转，想要重新再来的时候，世事早已是沧海桑田了，像是《半生缘》里曼桢与世均十几年后再见，发现造化如此弄人之后的哭诉“我们已经回不去了，回不去了啊！”。
时过境迁、物是人非，岁月已经冲淡了一切，这时候你能做的，也就是轻轻地问一句：“噢，你也在这里吗？”
青春是一本太仓促的书，明天我们就都老了。所以，让我们擦亮眼睛，从此不再错过。
译文:
If Life Remains As It Looked At First Sight
Our first encounter reminded me of thousands of peonies in full bloom, fervent and vivid; or just as the sweet aroma given off by orchids, serene, far-reaching and unforgettable. The hearthrob and wonder brought by the first encounter, and the imagination and reverie it left behind hardly loosened its hold on me. I could still memorize the person’s look at the first sight, and for some time, I would believe that without her, all the rest of my life would be spent in void. What if life is full of fun, but there is nobody to share?
However, due to many facts like war, and that nothing can be easily foreseeable, destiny does not always turn out as it is supposed to be, and the selfishness and foolishness we harbor, we can hardly renew our encounter after the first meeting. However, life is not all about longing and melancholy. Once departed and as long as we live our own lives, we are too preoccupied with life’s trivia to spend time and energy recalling the wonder or regret of the old days. Both of us may meet each other at the God’s mercy when we are very old, or until it is too late. The moment we meet each other, the bright aspect of life has already been replaced by a bleak look. Both of us are surged with a lost feeling, only to lament the God can change a person’s look easily, and life’s springtime has gone with the flowing water and falling flowers. And for us, nothing can be brought back.
Our ancestors have invented quite a few sayings that can ease people’s mind, like Fate brings together people who are far apart. It makes many young men look to a happy life that lies ahead, believing the other part will show up even separated by thousands of miles, as decreed by providence. But at the same time, we find in the modern society more and more people without predestined relationship. They meet and depart forever.
Sometimes I doubt ancient romance. The couple fell into love with each other so readily—the girl did not have so many material terms whatsoever, and the boy was no more fussy with the girl’s look. When the marriage proposal came, the girl hid behind a folding screen to steal glances at the boy. If she thought the boy looked alright, she would not refuse to marry him. And romance was something that began after marriage, and life was as wonder; lifelong company came so natural, like the Chinese saying The man should be monolith, and woman should be reed. Reed is as lithe as silk, and monolith is never to shift.
Just consider why the modern man differs from his ancestors so greatly. The much bigger outside world may be a reason. The more choices, the fewer people ready to value. That’s why If life remains as it looked at the first sight has roused vibe among so many people.
I would rather believe the old saying Decade’s hardships could be exchanged for an occasion for travel in the same boat. Century’s tribulations could be in return for the marriage of the two. The encounter between two people is never easy, and to appreciate each other is even more difficult. If passiveness and arrogance stands in the way, and diffidence makes one hesitate and retreat forever, or otherwise, if it is a cynical attitude without cherishing that makes a romantic story never take place, one will spend the rest of his life in remorse. Even these two people meet again many years afterwards, with all the old days being brought back in memory and the mind fraught with bitterness and sorrow, it is too late to show regret and rewind the time, for time has changed everything. It reminds me of Eighteen Springs in which Manzhen meets Shijun over a decade later, when finding fortune had played such a cruel trick on them, she wept “Nothing will look the same again!”.
Circumstances change with the passage of time, and things are never the same again. Time has made everything look insignificant. You are only left with a gentle asking: “So…it is you?”
Youth is so short-lived that we grow old very quickly. So let’s stay in full alert, and never let it pass.