Mistaken in a Past Life

This is a notorious case from the Southern Song dynasty.

The case implicated many people. A chancellor, a prefect, and a Neo-Confucian scholar were all involved, sparking endless debate and discord at court and among the people.

Some were upright and innocent, yet deliberately smeared; others were pure by nature, yet made complicated by those around them.

Was it private vengeance, or a struggle between good and evil? After eight hundred years of upheaval, the truth of the case has long since disappeared behind layer upon layer of fog. The facts remain unclear, but human nature endures. Even today, we can use common sense to infer what might have happened in those distant times.

They were two people at odds, each finding the other unbearable;

two conflicted people and a tangled affair collided in a turbulent age, and ultimately brought about a contradictory ending.