In our first life, he was a holy monk journeying west to fetch the scriptures, and I was a queen bearing the fate of a nation.
As we parted on the city wall, dust stained his kasaya. He said, “If there is another life, I would forsake the Buddha.” From then on, I guarded an empty city, waiting for a promise that might never come true.
In our second life, he was an unmatched warrior, and I was a pawn in a chain of schemes.
Peach blossoms from Fengyi Pavilion fell upon the blade, while snow at White Gate Tower buried the words left unsaid. This era of chaos had no room for love, and all I could do was watch his head hang high above the city.
In our third life, he was a captive from Liangshan Marsh, and I was a bride forced to marry my enemy.
The twin sabers of sun and moon could cut down enemy troops, but not the grip of power. Beneath my red bridal veil lay the blood of the three hundred souls lost at Dulong Ridge, and a heart that had long since died.
In our fourth life, we finally had the childhood sweetheart romance we’d always dreamed of.
He was Baoyu, the young master of the Rongguo Mansion, and I was Daiyu, the orphan girl living under someone else’s roof. But before the peach blossoms in the Grand View Garden had finished blooming, the schemes behind the marriage arranged by the gold token and jade pendant had already closed around us like a net. It turned out that in this life, our enemy was called fate.
Four trials of love, four identities, four journeys through the mortal world.
Only then did I understand: behind every “helpless” choice lay a script written by the Heavenly Dao. When the tears had run dry, the blood had dried, and the vows had turned to ash, in my final life I burned my poems and asked him:
“If love is destined to be a trial, would you still enter the cycle of reincarnation with me?”
He turned away in the heavy snow, his kasaya red as blood.
“You are the trial. You are also my fulfillment.”
The deepest love in this world is knowing how it ends, yet still daring to make all four lifetimes lead to you.
The old alliance remains on the Sansheng Stone, and the soul of the dream is fixed at the sight of each other. The relationship is shallow but the love is deep in the bones, but the tribulation is deep and I still remember the kindness of the past.