#chu xidao

[smokefalls]

A touch of loss and sorrow always lurks at the pinnacle of beauty, like petals scattered by the wind.

Chu Xidao, "The Portrait" from The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories (translated by Gigi Chang)

[smokefalls]

The brush was now an unbearable load, weighing a thousand jun. Even if he could lift it, he would only be capable of writing the character 情. This one simple word embodied a wealth of feelings and emotions—love, passion, affection, tenderness, devotion, companionship… It quashed the last of his self-control.

Chu Xidao, "The Portrait" from The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories (translated by Gigi Chang)