Eastern Palace

Eastern Palace Side Story 2 (Part 1)

Not Believing People's Hair Could Turn White (Part 1)

The title of this side story is part of a verse from a famous poem from the Song Dynasty, known as Partridge Sky - That Night the Jackdaws Worry, written by Xin Qiji who is a military official. On the surface, the poem is about a beautiful woman who suffered from the grief of separation and her yearning for someone. The actual underlining meaning of the poem is the poet expressing their incapability of achieving their own ideal political view. His dream was to help reunite the country under the Song Dynasty because the troops of the Jin Kingdom had invaded the country, which caused the collapse of the Song Dynasty. He was never able to achieve his dream because he had opposed an appeasement policy, which resulted him from being removed from his post. The full verse of the poem in which the title of the side story is part of, means that if one did not experience the grief of separation, then they would not believe that someone's hair could turn white as a result of the feeling of grief.

(Partridge and Jackdaw are different types of bird species.)

Also I forgot to mention a detail from the previous side story. A'Mu's name is 阿穆 which has the same pronunciation as 木, while Chaoyang's name is Feng Huang (凤凰). When you combine the both names, it would be Feng (枫) which is Xiao Feng's name (小枫). It is speculated that Li Cheng Yin's son and daughter were named after Xiao Feng.

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The sky was grey with a hint of green, the earth was deep and distant. The stars have become blurred as the moon sets, the tip of the grass leaves were covered with condensed dew, and the sound of grasshoppers gradually became sparse. The sky was about to brighten, a faint bright light could be seen in the east.

Gu Jian rode his horse to the top of the sandy hill and waited quietly.

The ink colored sky slowly disappeared. The bright light from the east slowly covered the sky, becoming brighter and brighter, as if more and more clear water were seeping into the ink colored sea. It was not noticeable at first, but gradually the sky became as transparent as colored glass, turning a deep peacock blue with a hint of purple. The ink color was fading rapidly, even the sky in the west was turning purple, and soon after, the east sky was already bright, the sun had emerged and was emitting the first golden ray of light.

The first rays of sunlight made the dew on the grass leaves look very bright, like countless glittering crystal beads scattered in a endless green field. The horse snorted, then lowered its head to eat the grass leaves, as several grasshoppers jumped up from the grasses. This was the best season, with mountains being surrounded by green grasses, and the morning wind blowing the grasses like green waves. The star-like wildflowers were mixed into the sea of green grasses, the distant snow mountain was like a huge piece of ice, with the golden ray of sunlight outlining the mountain.

Gu Jian waited patiently, a distant sound could be heard which seemed like the sound of rain, but also seemed like the sound of the grasses being blown by the wind.

After a moment, the sound was getting closer and louder. The distant sound that was at first like the distant sound of muffled thunder during the summertime, after a short period of time have passed, it was clear that the sound was the sound of horses' footsteps.

Gu Jian squinted his eyes, the sound of horses' footsteps was getting closer and clearer, the group of riders were heading towards the sun. Gradually, Gu Jian could clearly see the riders' saddles, and the stern face of the leader when they removed their helmet.

Gu Jian rode his horse there to welcome the group, the horse had rest for a long period of time so its movement was effortless, quickly arriving to welcome the group. The leader of the group was Pei Zhao, Gu Jian recognized him, but did not like this person, he asked: "Where is Wu Lang?"