A Gift Destined by Fate

It tells a seemingly simple story - two people fell in love and then didn't stay together. The core image of the novel, "mandarin ducks," has been given an ironic undertone from the very beginning. Ling Bing bought two mandarin ducks and gave them to Xu Wen, saying, "Mandarin ducks only have one companion in their lives" - but later Xu Wen discovered that both were males, and Ling Bing admitted that he knew that when he bought them. This detail has a sharp blade buried under the surface of sweetness: the two male mandarin ducks were together from birth to death, but the person who bought them failed to do so. When Xu Wen buried the mandarin ducks with his own hands and erected the monument "Yuanyang Tomb", he buried not only the two birds, but also his unfulfilled love in his childhood. When Ling Bing finally buried Xu Wen's body next to the Yuanyang Tomb and erected a monument for himself, "Love Wife Xu Wen", this image completed its cruel closed loop - things that could not be done in life can only be achieved in death. Bamboo slices are another symbol that appears throughout the text. "Tomb" is engraved on the front and "My Love Narrative" is engraved on the back. Xu Wen has been touching it for more than ten years, but he has only touched the word on the front, not knowing that there is Ling Bing's answer on the back. Ling Bing had already responded to Xu Wen's sentence "Are you willing to be buried with me?", But Xu Wen never heard it until his death. This piece of bamboo is the most accurate metaphor of the whole story: the two people's hearts have never missed each other, but they have never met at the right time. Similarly, Bai Ling changed from an eye patch to a hair tie, from Jiangnan to Kyoto, from visible to invisible. The fate of these objects unfolds in parallel with the fate of the characters, and everything has its own reincarnation. In terms of narrative structure, the novel adopts three nested perspectives: the narrative perspective of the main text is "experience", and the reader follows him from Jiangnan to Kyoto, from regaining his sight to blindness again, from waiting to despair; Lingbing's perspective is "explanation", which completes his story in The struggle and weakness in Kyoto; the principal wife's perspective is "spectating". Her sentence "Everyone says that the mandarin ducks are the most infatuated, but in my opinion they are the coldest" reveals the other side of the whole story - she is not the villain, she is also the one who was sacrificed. The three mirrors reflect three shapes of the same story. No one is absolutely at fault for the other, and everyone is trapped in their respective positions and unable to move. This "tragedy without villains" is the most debilitating part of the novel. Did Lingbing break his promise? He broke his promise, but he is not Chen Shimei - he is not greedy for wealth, he is just trapped by his family, ethics and his own weakness. Xu Wen died the day before Ling Bing came to redeem him, not to punish Ling Bing, but because he couldn't hold on anymore - after waiting for too long, his body and spirit were hollowed out. Even the head wife didn't do anything wrong, she just married someone who had someone else in mind. If everyone did the "right" thing and tragedy still happened, who should be hated? Hate fate? Hate ethics? These words are so big that people have nowhere to focus. And those details that have been written repeatedly - the Suzaku Street that the welcoming procession walked through during Ling Bing's wedding, and then he walked it again holding Xu Wen's body, with red silk flying when he came, and a dead skeleton when he left - the same road carries completely opposite weights. Rouge Lane, which can be walked in half a stick of incense, Xu Wen walked for half his life without walking out, and Ling Bing walked for half his life before walking in. Kyoto and Jiangnan are too far away. The footsteps in the corridor overlap with the sound of stepping on the snow in the yard. One is coming and the other is leaving. The red threads of fate only intertwined for a moment, but left a tremor for the rest of their lives. There is no love in the world better than this - living and dying together, or yin and yang separated. But Ling Bing and Xu Wen didn't do it. They only achieved the separation of yin and yang. Ling Bing spent the rest of his life living the "separation of yin and yang" into another form of "lasting together."

Short and sweet. Some stories are destined to be tragic from the beginning. However, what makes me think it can be rated five stars is because in this story, the author writes about the woman who is most easily ignored, her innocence and misfortune. Fortunately, she can still reconcile and have a fairly happy ending.

This novel really gets better and better the more I read it! The plot rhythm is controlled just right, there is no delay and water injection, and the reversal design is unexpected but logical. The characters are three-dimensional and vivid. Each character has his own story and standpoint, and is by no means a tool. The writing is smooth and natural, and has a strong sense of immersion, making it impossible to stop reading. The worldview is complete and delicate, and the foreshadowing echoes back and forth, and it can be seen that the author has polished it carefully. It's a great daily pastime, and I highly recommend it to friends who are book-hungry!

The author is very good at writing. At the beginning, the two got along very harmoniously. When they recalled their past again, it was from the words of the old man in the following article... The article also explains what happened to the woman later. Although she was sad, she did not blame them. There are many small details worth savoring and the emotions are very delicate.

When the snow falls in the south of the Yangtze River, this sentence is touching enough. Abuse makes you sober, love makes you heavy, this is how a good story should be

The cruelest thing is not to be blind, but to have to atone for your whole life after seeing the betrayal.

The eyes were healed, I saw the betrayal, and I redeemed myself for the rest of my life. She didn't forgive her, it was too painful.

The description is vivid, the reading is smooth and silky, and the plot is exciting

It's awesome, the plot is very interesting, not clichéd, and not watery [love]

It looks good, and I must give you encouragement.