Before I was seventeen years old, everyone expected me to be gentle and virtuous. They wanted me to be proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, but I only learned kindness through being pampered.
After I turned seventeen, someone told me to be restrained and steady, and they wanted me to know a little bit about medicine and military art, but I learned evil from the intrigues.
The phoenix perches high in the sycamore tree, and I circle around the elm tree like a dove. Although one day I will be high in the phoenix tree, and some people will sing about the phoenix's rebirth, but I am really just a dove occupying the phoenix's nest.