Chapter 4 Dongpo's Deep Love (Extra extra extra update for @Liuxia Hui in Silver!)_6

Since [some people say] she wasn't accepted, Zong Ji began to lay out facts, "Isn't it historically recorded that she burned Su Dongpo's writings and letters, losing [seven or eight out of ten]?"

"First, Su Dongpo, because he cherished his own drafts, likely used exaggerated embellishment when reorganizing them; secondly, Wang Runzhi's actions saved Su Dongpo's life, allowing him to survive the Wutai poetry case."

Meng Xin Zhi gave the reason she got from her dream, "What deserved to be passed down was recorded long ago. Without that burning, how could there be so many surviving works after the Wutai poetry case? Not to mention the later ones, even those written previously might have mostly been lost."

"That would be true, if Dongpo Mesiter had left this world so early..." Zong Ji dared not think further, "Is this also what Wang Runzhi told you in your dream?"

"Yes." Meng Xin Zhi never hid her dreams from her father; she never had, from childhood to adulthood.

"Our Axin's dreams are indeed more reliable than [someone saying]," Zong Ji mused.

"Dad, you're not making fun of me, are you?" Meng Xin Zhi stared at Zong Ji.

"Of course not!" Zong Ji clinked his bottle against Meng Xin Zhi's again, took a big gulp of the spirits, and then added, "Hearing you say this, I'm reminded of a detail."

"What detail?"

"Su Shi's brother Su Zhe wrote two eulogies 'Sacrificial Writings for the Deceased Sister-in-law Wang,' both about Wang Runzhi. This is unprecedented. It's also an honor Su Shi's official wife Wang Fu never had."

Zong Ji summed up his own thoughts, "This also indirectly shows that Wang Runzhi had a different place in the Su family, doesn't it?"

Meng Xin Zhi had read these two eulogies.

After dreaming about having afternoon tea with Wang Runzhi as if they were best girlfriends, she specifically reviewed information on Wang Runzhi.

It was deliberate. She knew it was normal to have two 'Sacrificial Writings for the Deceased Sister-in-law Wang'."

The fact that Zong Ji also knew such details came as a bit of a surprise to Meng Xin Zhi.

"Dad, you didn't use to be so knowledgeable about historical figures."

"Axin is also talking about the past, can the past and present be the same?" said Zong Ji with pride on his face.

"What's different?"

"In the past, dad's fondness for historical figures was satisfied with just a cursory glance, but now I have to keep up with any dreams Axin might have. Without a deeper understanding, how could I have such engaging conversations with Axin as I do now?"

With a father like this, what more could a daughter ask for?

"To be praised, Comrade Old Zong has really gone to great lengths to share common topics with me," Meng Xin Zhi returned the compliment to Zong Ji.

"What else can I do? Who else am I but your father?" Zong Ji said with some pride.

But suddenly, Meng Xin Zhi turned serious, "Dad, you don't think I'm going crazy, do you?"

"Absolutely not!"

"You are the best, Dad." Meng Xin Zhi put down the bottle, took Zong Ji's arm, and said thoughtfully, "Mom has already given up on treating me."

"That won't happen." Zong Ji re-adjusted Meng Xin Zhi's hair.

"How can it not?" Meng Xin Zhi pouted, "Just look at the face my mom makes, always worried I'll lead my sister astray."

"Every time you dream, you immediately check the classics. You've even chosen to major in cultural relics and museum studies because of those dreams. With such tenacity, you don't just believe everything you dream about. I can't see how such an Axin could be said to be confused, or capable of leading others astray."

"I wish Mom could think the same way you do." Meng Xin Zhi sighed deeply.

"What does it matter what your mom thinks? No matter what, Dad will always stand by your side." Zong Ji lifted his bottle.

Meng Xin Zhi picked up her own, clinked it lightly, and drank the last of it in one go.

She shook the empty bottle, breaking and speaking the truth, "Did you and Mom also say the same thing to each other?"

Zong Ji did not deny it, stepped back, and feigned surprise, "How did Axin come to know that? Could it be that Axin dreams about the private conversations between Dad and Mom?"

"Hard to say~ Who makes me take after my mother's last name Meng? For someone surnamed Meng, no dream is too strange."

That said,

Meng Xin Zhi's dreams were actually not so unconventional.

Everyone that appeared in her dreams was from artworks or historical figures she had studied seriously in her life.

The only peculiar thing was that she always managed to become "intimate friends" or close confidantes with the artworks she had just seen or the historical figures she was studying.

Discussing topics from all times and places with very modern language.

And often experiencing moments of sudden clarity in her dreams,

solving those perplexing details she encountered in her research.

Meng Xin Zhi didn't know why this was.

She also didn't know when she started having such dreams.

Her memory began at the age of six.

That year, her dad took her to the cinema to watch "Da Vinci Code."

That was the first movie she'd ever seen, and the first time she'd dreamt of someone from an artwork.

Perhaps she'd dreamt before, but being so young, she couldn't remember.

Or maybe, before the age of six, she simply never had the opportunity to encounter art,

nor had anyone taken her to the Louvre Museum because she wanted to see a painting.

Regarding the act of dreaming,

Her mom thought she was mentally ill, unable to distinguish between dreams and reality,

While her dad thought she was full of imagination and began to catch up on historical knowledge.

The world is vast, but Dad is the greatest,

Everything is fine, but Dad is the best,

Meng Xin Zhi liked the dad she chose for herself the most, the most, the most.

The year she was six,

She met Zong Ji for the first time—

And asked Zong Ji her first question—

"Could you be my dad?"