Chapter 4 Dongpo's Deep Love (Extra extra extra update for @Liuxia Hui in Silver!)_3

Zong Ji really enjoyed discussing Meng Xin Zhi's dreams with her, especially those involving ancient Chinese historical figures.

Unlike topics like Da Vinci or the Mona Lisa.

He didn't know enough about them and couldn't go into much depth.

But when it came to "quite familiar" Su Dongpo, it was a different story.

On the topic of who was the love of Su Dongpo's life, Zong Ji had plenty to say, "This concept of a lifetime love is quite fresh. Among the three women in Dongpo's life, Wang Runzhi was the least presen

Zong Ji explained why he initially didn't remember the name, "If you said Dongpo's favorite was Wang Fu or Wang ChaoYun, I could accept that, but saying it's Wang Runzhi would be hard to find anyone who resonates with that.

Meng Xin Zhi fell silent.

Her father's thoughts mostly represented the mainstream view.

Zong Ji, now enthusiastic, began to read and explain Su Shi's timeless "Jiang Cheng Zi":

"Using poetry to express mourning, Su Shi was the pioneer."

[Ten years of life and death, boundless to consider, hard to forget when not thinking. A lonely grave a thousand miles away, no place to speak of desolation. Even if we met, I might not know you, face covered in dust, temples like frost.]

"If after ten years, Wang Fu, the deceased wife, was still on Dongpo's mind, isn't that what you call a lifelong love?"

[Nightly dreams bring me back home, small window pane, preparing for makeup. We gaze at each other without a word, only tears flow in thousands. One can imagine the heartbreak of every year, on bright moonlit nights, at the short pine ridge.]

"So many details of their life together, so many memories, and the tears in thousands — if that's not lifelong love, then where does the annual heartbreak come from?"

"If I had to choose a true love from the three women in Dongpo's life, I'd pick Wang Fu, or at least Wang ChaoYun."

"Isn't it said that 'Rain Following the First Clearing Over the Lake' was about Su Dongpo's encounter with Wang ChaoYun?"

[Water's gleam shimmering as it clears, a mountain's hue veiled in mist even after the rain is queer. Comparing West Lake to a beauty, whether lightly or heavily made up, both are fitting.]

"How beautiful is that imagination?"

"Wang Fu from 'Ten years of life and death boundless,' Wang ChaoYun from 'whether lightly or heavily made up, both are fitting' — which one doesn't surpass Wang Runzhi in eternal fame?"

After Zong Ji finished explaining, he didn't forget to add a jab: "Wang Runzhi only left behind an eternal bad name, right? Wasn't it her who burned around seventy to eighty percent of the poetry manuscripts Dongpo left at home? That's just not understanding the value of Su Shi's writing! If you say such a person was the love of Dongpo's life, I, your father will be the first to disagree."

...

Rooftop.

Moonlight.

Poetry far away, lyrics by the ear.

Meng Xin Zhi was quiet and didn't interrupt her father's analysis.

Her father's doubts were also hers.

Before dreaming about having afternoon tea with Wang Runzhi as close girlfriends, her view on the three women in Dongpo's life was exactly the same as her father's.

Meng Xin Zhi's graduation internship project was to plan an exhibition about Su Shi for a museum.

Exhibitions about Dongpo had already been done too many times.

She needed to find a brand new angle.

To design this exhibition well, she first needed to understand Su Shi's life.

In the whole process of searching for materials, she didn't pay special attention to Wang Runzhi.

She also hadn't planned to let Wang Runzhi have a particularly significant weight in Su Shi's life.

Frankly speaking, in the materials she could find, Wang Runzhi indeed did not have much presence.

In Dongpo's Hometown, there are many relics of Su Shi, his father Su Xun, and his brother Su Zhe.

The most famous is the Three Su Temple Museum.

Relics of Wang Fu are everywhere, including a large burial site.

To this day, relics of Wang Runzhi are almost untraceable in Dongpo's Hometown.

Not only are there no relics, but she also occupies very little proportion in Su Shi's classic works.

There isn't even one that is "widely recognized."

They are incomparable to those about Wang Fu and Wang ChaoYun.

But Meng Xin Zhi had a dream about Wang Runzhi.

In the dream, she treated Wang Runzhi to a very fashionable girl's afternoon tea in a very modern building.

Perhaps it was the "Zhi" in both their names, but upon waking, Meng Xin Zhi found herself persuaded by the "girlfriend" from the dream.

The Wang Runzhi in the dream, dressed in Song Dynasty attire, spoke in modern language.

It felt a bit like going shopping with a girl in Hanfu.

In the dream, Sister Runzhi cared little about material things.

She didn't mind how future generations judged her, but the title of Su Shi's lifelong love was something she couldn't let go.