Upcoming novel: We're All from the Bottom Rung, So Who's Looking Down on Whom? It will launch during the 2025 Spring Festival. Here's the blurb:
[Clever, sly courtesan X profit-driven male opera performer]
In the early years of the Republic of China, Sichuan was caught in a prolonged war between warlords, and the people suffered terribly.
She is a courtesan, skilled at reading people and charming those around her, adept at giving people what they want but unable to offer a shred of sincerity.
He is a male dan performer in Sichuan opera, with eyes like autumn waters and costumes like spring mist. He is deeply ashamed of his profession, yet has no choice but to rely on it for a living.
They say courtesans have no feelings and actors have no morals, and for these two, that's not far from the truth. They constantly scheme against and hurt each other, yet when they see the other trampled into the mud, they can't help but feel some sympathy. Poverty weighs them down, illness wears them out, and when they huddle together under one roof in a downpour to keep warm, they can still find a little tenderness between them.
Huo Mei dreams of becoming a wealthy man's wife. To that end, she deftly draws close to one rich man after another, struggling to maintain a marriage that was unequal from the start. She knows how to charm anyone, but doesn't bother hiding her sharp mind, materialism, or razor-sharp tongue from him. Xi Yulin hopes to save enough money to change careers, marry a girl from an ordinary family, and live a quiet life. He hates being looked down on by outsiders, and overreacts to teasing and even to kindness. But when she calls him "Xiao Qing," he really does come.
In this vast world, battered like duckweed in the rain, only they can grieve for each other's misfortunes, and only they can entrust their lives to one another.
On the opera stage, Xiao Qing asks Bai Suzhen, "We both endure loneliness in the water palace on Mount Mei. Why not marry me, and seek the Great Way together?"
When they meet again, neither of them is married. They gaze at each other across the river, choked with emotion. Truly, they are two lonely souls in the water palace on Mount Mei. They close their eyes and steel their hearts. Since they can't enjoy wealth and glory, they might as well be an ordinary married couple together.
------ Original blurb ------
Past life: [Xianbei slave X clay statue of Ksitigarbha] Present life: [Western Regions merchant X Dunhuang clay sculptor]
As the adopted daughter of the "master sculptor of Shazhou," Zhao Anren thought she would spend her whole life making clay sculptures.
Until the An Lushan Rebellion shattered the peace.
Her adoptive father disappeared, she was trapped in Chang'an, and an old acquaintance left behind six mysterious clay figurines as clues... A huge secret lay hidden behind the conspiracy. The man from the Western Regions named Jia Heng suddenly stopped smiling at her. The destruction of Loulan had driven a wedge between them.
It turned out this wasn't Zhao Anren and Jia Heng's first meeting. It was their reunion after a century apart. To uncover the truth, they left through the Jade Gate once more, crossed the Moheyan Desert, traveled via Gaochang, and returned to Loulan.
That was the obsession they had carried over from their past lives.
More than a hundred years earlier, Tuyuhun had annexed Shanshan, and the people of Loulan had become slaves to the Xianbei. The ice on Qinghai Lake was a thousand feet deep. A boy driving horses dropped his knife and stumbled into someone's arms.
"You've taken a life," she said, then kissed his forehead.
When they met again, Zhao Anren didn't recognize Jia Heng because he had grown up into an eighteen-year-old man. But Jia Heng recognized Zhao Anren, because she was a clay Bodhisattva who would never grow old.
"Can I come back with you?" she asked, just as before. "You've taken a life."
"You can," he said. "Be my bride."
A mortal woman with love in her heart plants spring trees; a lifeless Bodhisattva's golden body decays.
On the day she recovered her memories, they sat facing one another through the long night. One thought of the future, of the home they would build and the cattle and sheep they would fatten. The other thought of the past, repeating, "The sin is mine. The sin is mine."
Theme: Pursue freedom
Ending with flowers ~ I have to say that this is really the most unique article I have read this year. It not only takes Buddhist thought as the theme, but also conducts some ideological discussions, which makes me worship the author Reese. Let's talk about the male and female protagonists first. The first acquaintance of the male and female protagonists was a very sweet love at first sight. Different from the current plot of loving enemies, the origin of their love was a very primitive attraction based on the temperament, appearance and instinct of men and women. A-Nin was originally just a clay figurine, and this instinct was the opportunity that prompted her to transform into a "human". A-Nin has always had a rebellious spirit in her heart. She has been chasing freedom all her life. She will use her life to rebel, and finally "point directly to the human heart and become a Buddha after seeing her nature." What left a deep impression was her making out with Jia Heng at the gate of Loulan Palace. The shock was like, "How can you provoke me?" In comparison, Jia Heng suffered such a big blow. His tribe, his hometown, and even his wife were all gone, but when he saw the cattle and sheep, he could say okay, then I will stay for them. I feel that the root of Jia Heng's wisdom lies in the fact that he never resents the past nor worries about the future. Ah Ren couldn't do it, so "it was not Bodhisattva who showed the way, but Ah Ren gave Jia Heng the way." Not only Loulan, but A Ren finally gave Jia Heng a path to enlightenment. For Jia Heng, why is A Ren not the Bodhisattva who saved him? Some treasures may hate Zheng Zongwang, but in fact he is just a poor, greedy ordinary person. He really worked hard to integrate into Loulan's cute little group, and he didn't even reveal his secret crush on A Ren. It's just that he misses his hometown so much that when he writes poems, he always "doesn't give up or pick them back." The night when Loulan was burned down was a tragic accident. As God had done, A Ren got up and saw them. Zheng Zongwang is indeed a decisive patriarch, but when I saw him leaning on Shisanniang's arms and asking her if she was a family member, I couldn't hold myself back. He has a very typical small-farmer mentality, using family as a network of relationships. He always cares about his family the most, drawing warmth from them and devoting his life to them. Among the many supporting characters, I think the story of Midnight Song is the most interesting. I always thought this was a little white flower who was forced to love her, but the more I looked at her, the more something was wrong. When I saw it later, I thought, it turns out that she likes to take pictures. Just to interrupt here, Ziyege went on stage to recite poems and took a break from thinking to look at the photos under the stage. Oh, I really stumbled upon this. But looking at it, I feel like she doesn't really like taking photos. She is always lonely, even the shadow cannot understand her. Zhaoying is always sober and realistic. Her purpose is to get a good life through Wenbian, so she uses her beauty to find another man to get pregnant with a child and marry Wenbian secretly. However, what is dramatic is that Wen Bian, as a clay figurine, is actually sterile, and the man she is looking for turns out to be Zhao Wuliang. In this way, hearing and discerning and listening to the Dharma can be regarded as the Zhao family, and they have really become a family hahahahahaha The only person in this article who understands Midnight Song is Wen Bian. "Ying is not as good as the mouth of the Han River, so I guess it's Feng Xiaoqing." There is no confidant for you in this world. In fact, you don't really love taking pictures. What you pursue in your life is pure beauty. She loves her beautiful appearance, excellent talents, and good moral character, but it's a pity that Zhaoying never understands her. As a statue of Manjusri, Wenbian has enough time and talent to learn all kinds of knowledge, but as mentioned in the article, the world depreciates for him much faster than others. He was too smart and too sober, so his life was miserable. He soberly watched human beings struggling and suffering in the mortal world, but he was always alone. His only obsession now was to see the end of the world. On the other hand, Ziye Ge is the only one who understands him. "It's better to have knowledge than to accumulate knowledge." I would rather you be a common person than see you think that everything in this world is meaningless. What can you gain if your heart is empty. Look, even A Ren, who has the same fate as him, can't understand him, but Zi Ye Ge can have a divine connection with him. At this moment, I must have heard and discerned that life is no longer so empty. The most wonderful setting in the article is probably the clay statue turning into a human being. Zhao Songzhen is a strange man, but unfortunately his mentality gradually changed and he gradually became selfish, so the four Bodhisattvas gradually fell into the mortal world. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Xie Buxun is Zhao Song's first work, and he is also the one with the purest heart of Buddha, and he finally became enlightened; Manjusri lives a sober and painful life, and his wisdom will be damaged. He feels that everything in the world is meaningless, and he is just waiting for the world. The end; Samantabhadra was even more confused. He kept himself in place without knowing anything, and did not dare to take a step forward. The last time he was brave was at the cost of his life; Ksitigarbha, not to mention, directly struck out with a heavy fist. Yes, I want to be this common person. As his descendant, Zhao Wuliang is even more unique. He actually carved out the Ksitigarbha that Zhao Song failed to accomplish. His heart is purer than Zhao Song. All he loves in this life is art, and he has never had any vulgar thoughts. Although Wenfa is actually his son, they have little interaction in the article. Tracing back to the source, I think Zhao Song is really abstract. If you want to carve a Buddha statue and your mind is not pure, then you should not carve it. It will make our four wonderful babies struggle in pain all their lives. Why should we force mortals to become Bodhisattvas? They are just ordinary people. Finally, when it comes to writing, who knows I really love it. The author's writing is so sophisticated that it can be seen with the naked eye. Loulan has only left a handful of marks in history, but the author is able to find a possible real path of historical change on this basis. In the past life chapter, I was fascinated by the scene where the Loulan little cuties lived on the grassland, feeding sheep, milking cows and making food, including the walking route and climate and landforms. It was like watching a documentary. I really doubted that the author had traveled through the past and lived with them. Moreover, there are no pure villains in the whole text, no one is bad for the sake of being bad, everyone makes choices for survival. After reading it, it's hard to completely dislike anyone. I can only say, hey, fate plays tricks on people. And I particularly like this style of writing. In addition to detailed description, there is also appropriate blank space and lyrical quotes from classics. This really tests the author's writing skills. Including the poems that appear many times in the article, "Wish to be a horse whip", "Thinking of me, floating in the wilderness", "Walking again and again, parting with you", which just exaggerates the atmosphere, and you can feel that the author's writing style is very good and he has read many books. There is also "less than 100 years of birth" that Aren likes. If you are less than a hundred years old, you often worry about being a thousand years old. The days are short and the nights are long, so why not travel by candlelight? It directly echoes the entire introduction. It's amazing, baby! All in all, I really love this book, and I will definitely finish it if I write other books in the future! 💪 💪 💪
After reading the copy, I originally thought it was another cliché love story, like the script of an idol drama where anyone could know the plot with their eyes closed. Originally I just casually opened it when I was short of literature, but unexpectedly I read it back and forth several times. I was so fascinated that I couldn't explain the reason and couldn't figure it out. The plot develops step by step, from the grassland to Chang'an, from the desert to Loulan. For the first time, I don't pursue the sweet CP or indulge in the funny and embarrassing plot. Instead, I get closer to the world in the book little by little. I even feel that A Ren and Jia Heng will appear in my dreams. I have never seen the desert, nor do I know Loulan, but I feel that just like the author wrote, the tribesmen unite for a common dream, and there is inadvertent warmth and happiness. The name you call has sincere blessings, and the smile you raise has vitality. But I always couldn't bear to watch it anymore, for fear that it would all be swallowed up by fire in the next second. The happier the scene, the heavier the mood. We all understand that this is a memory, and it will be punctuated by a ruthless period at any time, like the tears that fill our eyes when we wake up from a beautiful dream. Everyone has shortcomings, everyone is unfulfilled. A Ren transformed from mud into a human being and went to a land of freedom where even his soul no longer existed; Jia Heng wanted to return to Loulan with his tribe and be with A Ren, but he was alone but stayed for the sake of one hundred and sixty-five sheep; Guan Shiyin wanted to save the world, but in the end he returned as a mortal Entering the earth, but there is nothing wrong with it; Manjusri is smart but painful, lonely and has no business, but fortunately he has Ziye Ge as a bosom friend; Samantabhadra imprisoned himself for the promise, and is confused; Zheng Zongwang wants to go home, wants to have a family, and is burdened with sin... The author's writing style is very sophisticated. This is also the first novel about Buddhism that I have read. There is white space in the thick ink, and there is a sigh in the lyricism. The author uses exquisite writing style to write about all kinds of multifaceted people, complex and difficult-to-express emotions, and intertwined love and hate. We always don't love openly enough and hate decisively enough. But what's the point? We can't become Bodhisattvas, everyone is a layman. Finally, I am super interested in the author's new book. I can't wait to read it tomorrow to comfort the pain of starting school. I hope the author will get better and better. Come on, my great writer!
Watching it again is still funny and touching. I like the ending, not because of the result but because of the successful process.
I like this moment when we promise to stay together. It doesn't need to be so grand. Love is strongest in the ordinary moments.
I feel like you, the author, are very knowledgeable, and your descriptions of many places made my eyes shine.
Kill Zheng Zongwang personally? What should I do if I turn into a clay figure?
Watching it again is still funny and touching. I like the ending, not because of the result but because of the successful process.
Knock on the bowl, it's time to update. Madam, don't tire yourself, but don't take a break either. I want to read your new book. Update quickly. Update quickly. Update quickly.
Love this chapter so much, don't fall into the trap defined by others
Beautiful but stupid, frigid but smart, wonderful