Explore Chapter 27 of 'Spring Ming Outer History' with the original Chinese text, English translation, detailed Chinese vocabulary explanations, and audio of the Chinese original. Listen and improve your reading skills.
Since parting with Li Yun that day, Yang Xingyuan had often been preoccupied, unable to set his heart at ease. One night, he suddenly dreamed of Li Yun, as if reliving their time together. Upon waking, tear stains lingered on his pillow, filling his heart with profound melancholy.
He rose, lit the oil lamp on his desk, spread out paper and brush, and composed a ci poem to the tune of "Nian Nu Jiao" to record the feelings from his dream. The lyric read: "From dreams upon the pillow I return, / Hearing faint music from the courtyard next, / Echoes of days of yore. / Moonlight slants across the window pane, / She is not to be seen; / Tears soak my azure sleeve with stain. / I recall then, by lamplight we conversed, / Speaking of love so deep and true. / Who could have known that now we pine apart, / Each worn and thin, at earth's remotest end? / Must be old foes from a former life, / Reunited now, to part again, / Adding to sorrow's threads. / I, ever fond, ask why you are so cold, / To bear betraying the heart we once did hold? / If in another life we wait, I fear / We may not meet anew; / When will this regret be clear? / Better to drown in wine, and pass / The night's slow water-clock in dreams, alas."
The next day, as Yang Xingyuan was lost in thought, there came a knock at the door. Opening it, he saw a young servant delivering a letter and a package. Yang Xingyuan received them and recognized Li Yun's handwriting.
Upon opening the letter, Li Yun wrote: "Recently, while sorting through old things, I came across the book you lent me in the past, and I am returning it specially. Also, a small poem is enclosed to express my heartfelt feelings."
In the package was an old book, exactly the one Yang Xingyuan had lent to Li Yun many years ago. Between its pages was a slip of paper with a new poem written: "A dream that recalls bygone days leaves naught but haze, / A lyric penned in vain to an old bond's maze. / The book returns to its master, but where does he dwell? / From a blunder wrought, new verses swell, with tears that tell."
After reading it, Yang Xingyuan knew Li Yun's feelings were profound. But considering his own rootless wanderings and uncertain future, he feared he might not live up to expectations, and his heart was filled with conflict.