Blurb:
In the years of youth, she was a pure lotus, yet helpless before shifting tides;
Gentle and graceful, she left behind only a proud and heroic bearing, awaiting the day her name would be praised through the ages.
A fragrant cassia tree, a few scattered stars: who sighs for the pure dreams of bygone years?
The vermilion palace walls, green glazed tiles and soaring eaves; with light steps, she walks the path to rule the realm.
A young phoenix spreads its wings, a refined youth; the art of statecraft and the royal cause, where has their splendor gone?
Fresh as chrysanthemums in a gentle breeze, she rises and falls through life and death for a single song of the phoenix;
Radiant as a peony in full bloom, she emerges. Let none say the splendid realm is lost: the phoenix soars to the ninth heaven.
Fine waters flow through deep ravines, embroidered peaks rise at dawn; for ten thousand years, mountains and rivers return to a dream.
After the flowers bloom and fall, who will recognize the tears of that old friend?
Synopsis:
She, a young princess and peerless empress, holds the world in her hands.
Patient and alone, she seeks only to fulfill a long-held wish;
Strong and rising, she bears a vast realm upon her shoulders.
Grief and helplessness: tears fall for a dear friend who is no longer there;
Regret and resolve: an emperor's grand designs vanish into a dream of mountains and rivers.
A turbulent past, a resolute young woman,
leaving only drifting clouds and mist, lingering for a while.
Where are his promise and her happiness?
The Phoenix Brocade
This story is entirely fictional, though it draws on the historical setting of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties. Some details may not be historically accurate, so please be understanding!
