In ancient aesthetics, 13 years old is the most beautiful age for a girl. This is their green cardamom hanging on the branches in early February, because cardamom will only mature in midsummer. The woman of 13 years old is compared to cardamom, and the ripe cardamom fruit in midsummer implies a woman who will get married soon.
Secondly, among the literati who like to show off their literary talent, it is fresh and refined to link the flowering period of plants with the age of girls, which makes it look like a beautiful sentence. Why not? After all, even Lu Xun can't avoid customs. He also wrote that anyone who sees a beautiful woman should say "the cardamom is exquisite and lovely".
Cardamom describes the origin of girls:
This allusion comes from the Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu's "Farewell": "There are more than thirteen flowers, and the cardamom is the first in early February." It is said that the poet Du Mu met Zhang Haohao, a 13-year-old prostitute in Yangzhou, and wrote this poem as a gift to her before leaving. The article describes this delicate and beautiful woman, like a bean flower that just sprouted in February, in bud.
Here, girls are described as young cardamom buds that have just sprouted in early February, just waiting to be released. Since then, people have begun to use "cardamom" to describe thirteen-year-old girls. Southerners call the bean curd flower that is not in full bloom a flower with a fetus, saying that it is as tender as a female body. Du Mu singing cardamom is also praising the girl. Since then, the story of cardamom has spread.