Although under the pens of literati since the Tang and Song, this fairy visitor among flowers had been washed clean of all connection with the vulgar mortal world, for the common people the osmanthus symbolized gold and jade, fame and fortune, and success at every level in the imperial examinations. So in the end even the literati could not escape the mundane.
除了唐宋以來，文人筆下洗盡塵緣的花中仙友，桂花在民間的意象，其實是黃金碧玉、功名利祿，集大小登科於一身，到頭來連文人也不能免俗。