Origin Child

Grand Marshal Huan Zhen, courtesy name Yuanzi, watered her horses by the Ba River, reclaimed Luoyang, and raised the shattered realm back up. After her third failed northern expedition, she set her sights on the capital, determined to unite the land and replace the Jin dynasty with a regime of her own. Xie Ye, courtesy name Anshi, was then a close courtier to the emperor. He delayed the documents that would have proclaimed Huan Zhen's usurpation, unaware that she had little time left to live.

"When I see Anshi, I see a spring mountain."

"I am growing old, yet Yuanzi's bearing remains unchanged."

After sixteen years separated by life and death, Xie Ye dreamed that his childhood sweetheart had come to fetch him in her carriage. He died that August.

Was this a fixation from his final moments, or a painter's reimagining?

This novel is adapted from The Book of Jin and A New Account of Tales of the World. In 331 AD, Huan Yuanzi took up her blade to avenge herself and entered officialdom through killing, beginning a turbulent and magnificent life.

Northern expeditions and retreating to the south, seizing power and preserving what remains: the tides of the age shaped every person's bittersweet fate. In this life, they fight with all their strength, no longer swept along by the flood of destiny. The frustrations and longings of generations come together in a grand, resonant chorus, so that people everywhere may witness the southward crossing and the return north.

Main Characters:

Huan Zhen: If I cannot leave a good name for posterity, am I not at least worthy of being remembered as a villain for ten thousand years?

Xie Ye: If Anshi refuses to enter public life, what will become of the common people?

Xi Chou: Xi Sheng can certainly be called a welcome guest in the tent.

Yin Hao: I have been contending with myself for a long time. I would rather be myself.

Yu Yi: Zhigong is a storehouse of grain in a famine.

Xie Yi: We lost one old soldier and gained another. What is there to find strange?

Xie Shang: Zhenxi is a charming creature.

Huan Chong: The Lord of Yang is very wealthy. He says he does not want to be held as a hostage. Please buy De Lang as a foster son for him.

Princess: Even I find you adorable, let alone that old servant!

Yao Xiang: His noble bearing and spirit were like Sun Ce's, but his martial prowess surpassed him.

Yao Chang: How dare that little Qiang barbarian threaten the Son of Heaven!

Wang Tanzhi: Shu loved Tanzhi. Even when he was grown, he would still hold him on his lap.

Gu Kai: The mountains collapse and the seas run dry. Where can the fish and birds turn for refuge?

Sima Yu: When the Prince of Kuaiji arrived, he was dazzling, like the rising morning clouds.

Wang Meng: After I am gone, I hope you will not make the Jin your target.

Fu Jian: Does Heaven not want me to unite the whole realm? Why has it taken Jinglue from me so soon?

Murong Chui: Canhe Slope! Canhe Slope!

Main References:

Records of the Three Kingdoms, The Book of Jin, The Book of Jin with Collations, Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government, Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government with Annotations, Textual Critiques of the Comprehensive Mirror, Records of Jiankang, Book of Song, Book of Wei, History of the Southern Dynasties, History of the Northern Dynasties, Book of Sui, Supplement to the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Collected Editions of the Nine Old Books of Jin, A New Account of Tales of the World with Annotations, Records of Huayang, Garden of Strange Tales, Records of Things Lost, Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital, Sequel to In Search of the Supernatural, Biographies of Eminent Scholars, Biographies of Immortals, Biographies of Divine Immortals, Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era, Collection of Literature Arranged by Categories, Primer for Study, Extracts from the Northern Hall, Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, Forest of Gems in the Garden of the Dharma, Strange Phenomena in the Buddhist Sutras and Vinaya, Biographies of Eminent Monks, Collection of Records on the Translation of the Tripitaka, Collection on the Propagation and Clarification of Buddhism, Expanded Collection on the Propagation and Clarification of Buddhism, Collection of Debates Between Buddhists and Daoists from Ancient to Present, Treatise on the Correctness of Buddhist Teachings, Treatise Refuting Heresy, Records of the Three Treasures Through the Ages, Catalogue of Buddhist Texts of the Great Tang, Kaiyuan Catalogue of Buddhist Texts, Comprehensive Records of Buddhas and Patriarchs, Shorter Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, The Practice of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, Vimalakirti Sutra, Notes on Famous Paintings Through the Ages, Record of the Classification of Ancient Paintings, Annotations to the Thirteen Classics, Collected Annotations on the Zhuangzi, Collated and Annotated Works of Ji Kang, Complete Prose of the High Antiquity, Three Dynasties, Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms, and Six Dynasties, Poems of the Pre-Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, Selections of Refined Literature, New Songs from the Jade Terrace, Collection of Music Bureau Poems, Family Instructions of Master Yan, Book of the Golden Tower, Collated and Verified Commentary on the Water Classic, Gazetteer of Counties and Prefectures from the Yuanhe Era, Universal Geography of the Taiping Era, Comprehensive Gazetteer of Regions, A Record of Famous Places, An Extensive Survey of the Land, Gazetteer of Jiankang from the Jingding Era, New Gazetteer of Jinling from the Zhizheng Era, Classified Records of Six Dynasties Sites, Gazetteer of Jinling Buddhist Monasteries, Gazetteer of Buddhist Temples of the Southern Dynasties, Essentials of Historical Geography, Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang, Gazetteer of Zhejiang, Gazetteer of Jinhua Prefecture, Gazetteer of Wuyi County, Inner Chapters of Master Baopu, Declarations of the Perfected, Seven Slips from a Cloudy Satchel, Treatise on the Origins and Symptoms of Diseases, Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces, Emergency Prescriptions at Hand, Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library, Prescriptions at the Heart of Medicine, Comprehensive Institutions, Comprehensive Examination of Literature, Comprehensive Records, The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, and The Critique of Poetry

Purpose: Those who gather firewood for everyone must not be left to freeze to death in the snow and wind.