In the fourteenth year of Shaoxing, the Lu family of Lin'an Prefecture and the Tang family of Shanyin concluded a good relationship between the Qin and Jin Dynasties. Lu You and his cousin Tang Wan have been childhood sweethearts since they were young, and they formed a love through poetry and writing in the spring scenery of Shen Garden. In the year of the hairpin, Lu's mother promoted the marriage on the grounds of "increased marriage", but three years later she was forced to divorce her because Tang Wan "impeded his fame and heirs". Behind Zhao Shicheng's violent fight to win love, there was a factional struggle in the palace, and Lu You's failure in the imperial examination led to a major case of fraud in the Ministry of Rites. The reunion in Shen Yuan triggered the blood and tears of "The Hairpin Phoenix". Tang Wan died at the end of Qin Hui's dictatorship. Lu You traveled through officialdom and witnessed the great victory of Caishiji, and finally returned to Jianhu in seclusion under the Qingyuan Party Ban. This life-and-death love spanned forty years, intertwined with the oppression of women by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, the political calculation of gentry marriage, and the dark decay of the imperial examination system, recreating the survival dilemma and spiritual pursuit of the scholar-official class in the early Southern Song Dynasty.
Reader comments
The helplessness of worldly affairs and the necessity of deep love are all entangled in the author's writing. The author's delicate descriptions portray the characters' affection and helplessness in a moving way.
The helplessness of worldly affairs and the necessity of deep love are all entangled in the author's writing. The author's delicate descriptions portray the characters' affection and helplessness in a moving way.