Spring Overture [Past and Present Lives]

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1.

Jiang Jinshu once had a very, very long dream.

The person in her dream was always kind to her.

In early spring, he held out his hand to help her mount a horse, and they rode together.

On a midsummer night, they played a book-based guessing game and spilled tea in laughter, then sat before the mirror at dawn while he drew her brows.

On an autumn day, osmanthus blossoms floated in jade-green tea. The night was cool and clear, and he broke off a branch of osmanthus to give her.

When winter came, the golden brazier still gave off warmth. The two of them gathered plum blossoms to make incense and watched the snow by the window.

Every day, every night, it was always like that.

But she could never make out his face.

He seemed far away, high above in the clouds, yet also close enough to be just beyond a painted screen. Perhaps there was only a curtain of green silk between them, but she still didn't know who he was.

The only thing she could be sure of was the faint scar in the palm of his left hand.

2.

Later, her mother arranged a blind date for her.

She looked at the young man sitting across from her and was surprised to see the same scar from her dream in the palm of his left hand.

3.

"I want to compose a springtime overture with you in the midst of our ordinary days."

Coming soon: Canglang Pavilion

"The waters of Canglang can wash all things clean."

In the fourth year of Qingli, the emperor appointed Xie Yan, the Vice Censor-in-Chief, as Tongping Zhangshi and launched a series of reforms.

Xie Yan served as chancellor for a hundred days before being dismissed.

After being demoted and sent away from the capital, Xie Yan was assassinated on the eve of his departure. His daughter was the only one of the Xie family to survive.

That night, the wind and rain blotted out the sky.

In the capital, every household kept its doors firmly shut. The rooftops shimmered in the rain. Trying to escape her pursuers, Xie Fanjing had no choice but to stop a carriage.

Still shaken, she watched as her attendant reached for a blade, only to see the man in the carriage standing before the curtain with an umbrella, shielding her from the rain.

Xie Fanjing looked up at him. It was Su Shunqin.

He took her home.

*

Su Shunqin passed the imperial examination as a young man. He was the grandson of a Vice Premier and a student of the great Chancellor Xie Yan, but the reforms turned him against his mentor.

Everyone said Su Shunqin took in Xie Yan's daughter to get revenge, but only Su Zimei knew the truth: he was repaying a debt.

*

"Third month, nineteenth day: I met Fanjing. The rain and wind would not let up that day, so I took Fanjing home with me."

"Fourth month, fifth day: I taught Fanjing to write in the feibai style. Her calligraphy has the same spirit as her father's, even more so than mine."

"Seventh month, seventh day: I gave Fanjing a palace lantern. She was delighted."

"Ninth month, eighteenth day: Fanjing gave me a gold-inlaid blade. I find it more beautiful than embroidered robes."

"Fifth year of Qingli: I sent Fanjing into the palace. I tossed and turned all night."

*

In the ninth year of Qingli, Su Shunqin fell into imperial disfavor and went south to Suzhou.

The Empress Dowager sent Xie Fanjing to Suzhou to pay him a visit.

It was drizzling that day.

Su Shunqin smiled faintly. "Chiying, what should we name this pavilion?"

He called her by her courtesy name.

Xie Fanjing lifted her head, but all she could see was the misty expanse of water. She gazed at the distant green hills and slowly said, "When the Canglang waters are clear, I can wash my hat strings in them. When they are muddy, I can wash my feet. Why not call it Canglang Pavilion?"

Theme: Compose a springtime overture.