In this life, when the storm comes, has anyone ever opened their wings for you? To guard you loyally and protect you from wind and rain?
On April 8, 2014, at the Sotheby's international auction in Hong Kong, there was a sound of a hammer, like a drop of tear falling into a deep pool five hundred years ago. In front of the live broadcast screen, a white-haired old man was telling the legendary historical story of this chicken cup that was sold for HK$280 million. And this cup is the testimony of the love between Emperor Chenghua and Wan Zhen'er.
The legendary love story between Zhu Jianshen, the Chenghua Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and Wan Zhen'er, the palace maid, is a very special existence in Chinese history. The seventeen-year age gap, the identity change from "nanny" to "lover", the exclusive love spanning more than thirty years, the fate of passing away in the same year - this relationship itself transcends the ordinary narrative of an emperor and a concubine, and it is born with huge literary tension.
This novel takes the emotional clues of Zhu Jianshen and Wan Zhen'er as the axis, uses the protection of the hen to protect the chicks as the core image, uses objects to express emotions (chicken cup), and uses scenes to blend emotions (mint), radiating outward the historical panorama of the nearly fifty years of the mid-Ming Dynasty: war and peace, family and personal relationships, love and family affection, emotions and utensils, etc., Are intertwined on the stage of Chenghua Dynasty. This novel has a rich and three-dimensional plot, a complete and three-dimensional human nature, and two intertwined story clues, integrating a high degree of literature, artistry, and thought.
If I could describe this novel in one word, it would be "deeply touching" - you won't have to think about it after reading it, and you will never forget it! The author himself often sheds tears every time he rereads the last few chapters. I believe that if you read it carefully to the end, you will feel the same way!
Intention: Long-lasting loyalty and responsibility, to the country, family and people, in any era, isn't it a beautiful personality that we should strive to pursue?