#it's back now

[shanastoryteller]

What happened to ur pinned?

oops

[circumference-pie]

赠去婢 For the Maidservant

While deep in 苍兰诀 brainrot and research for this post, I came across a poem by the Tang poet 崔郊 Cui Jiao, whose only surviving work is this couplet:

公子王孙逐后尘，绿珠垂泪滴罗巾。 侯门一入深如海，从此萧郎是路人。 [2]

The sons of nobles and kings scuffle in the dust, Onto silk Lüzhu's tears fall, Once through highborn doors, the world becomes fathomless like the sea, From then on, the one who loved you is no more than a stranger passing by.

Backstory

The story goes: a young and upcoming scholar goes to live at his aunt's house, where he meets and falls in love with a maidservant his aunt owns, renowned locally for her beauty. The maid returns his feelings, but in financial straits, the (presumably oblivious) aunt sells her to a high official. Unable to forget her, the scholar waits for the maid outside the official's house until she comes out on the day of the Hanshi Festival.

It's an emotional reunion between the two lovers who can no longer be together, and the scholar, Cui Jiao, pens the above lines after the meeting to give vent to the feelings in his heart.

This is as recorded in a Tang-dynasty anecdote collection [1].

Line-by-Line Details

This was a fairly obtuse poem to me, so I've relied a lot on interpretations and explanations I found on the web.

公子王孙逐后尘 gōng zǐ wáng sūn zhú hòu chén The sons of nobles and kings scuffle in the dust

The first seven feet are fairly straightforward and exude discontentment [4].

And then:

绿珠垂泪滴罗巾。 lǜ zhū chuí lèi dī luō jīn Onto silk Lüzhu's tears fall,

[3] goes into extensive detail about the origin of the phrase 绿珠 Lǜzhū, or literally "green pearl": it was the name of a much-favored concubine of a rich, amoral man, a concubine who was also desired by a powerful official. [4] asserts that this allusion is supposed to evoke a woman who was snatched away. I think one reasonable Western subsitution for Lüzhu would have been Helen, another famous beauty who started a lot of fighting.

侯门一入深如海 hóu mén yí rù shēn rú hǎi Once through highborn doors, the world becomes fathomless like the sea

[4] explains that 侯门 hóu mén, arguably translated as the Marquis Door, refers to the homes of the nobility, and [5] elaborates that it connotes a world inaccessible to the common people. A variant of this line, 侯门似海, later came to express the distance between people created by a gap in wealth, as used in the Dream of the Red Chamber [6].

And, last but not least:

从此萧郎是路人 cóng cǐ xiāo láng shì lù rén. From then on, the one who loved you is no more than a stranger passing by.

Oh, "Xiao-lang." The source of much confusion in Love Between Fairy and Devil.

It's not certain how the term 萧郎 — "a man named Xiao" — also came to mean something like a dream lover or a beloved one. [7] points to a fairy tale involving phoenixes. [8] says it refers to an emperor of Southern Liang, Xiao Yan, who was the perfect man in every way, and therefore every woman's dream lover.

Whatever the origin of the meaning, it is this poem by Cui Jiao that is its most famous, and probably cementing, usage. One reasonable Western subsitution for Xiao-lang might be "Romeo," to get the implications of a male name that is also one of a literary lover.

As a reader, the quiet devastation of this last line kills me.

Further Backstory

But the story of the scholar and the servant girl has a happy ending! Supposedly, the official heard the couplet, realized what happened, and let the maid go with Cui Jiao. (And they lived happily ever after.)

References

[1] https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%B4%94%E9%83%8A/513533 [2] https://ctext.org/text.pl?node=207128&if=en#n207130 [3] https://vip.chinawriter.com.cn/member/yshan/viewarchives_422517.html [4] https://www.arteducation.com.tw/mingju/juv_1ce6be8ead88.html [5] https://www.baike.com/wikiid/8766869631118863385?view_id=2ug072h75is000 [6] https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BE%AF%E9%97%A8%E4%BC%BC%E6%B5%B7 [7] https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E8%90%A7%E9%83%8E [8] https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/2126004669919367147.html

[perchingominouslysmwh]

*a sudden craving for lemonade enters the chat*

[the-abdicated-flesh]

10:12 AM

“Doubt is a bad look on you.”

“What?”

“Are you asking me to repeat myself, or are

you just stalling for time?”

“I don’t know, if I give you enough one word

answers will you start asking questions that

mean things?”

“Hah. I’d call you out for being defensive and

rude, but without your favorite character traits

I think these conversations would be far less

engaging.”

“That’s certainly a plausible and human

sentence to say out loud.”

“…I was merely trying to inform you that

calculated emphatic hubris suits your face

much better."

"Are compliments off-limits as well, now?”

READ 10:19 AM

10:23 AM

“Or perhaps my style of compliment was the

affront to your ego.”

“Allow me to rephrase.”

“The shine of your eyes is unrivaled when filled

with that bone-wreathed fire, crackling off the

marrow as you raise it like a battle cry and the

affront to nature it should always have been

viewed as.”

“Alright, Asshole. You have my attention.”

“When you stride forth without the weight of

mortal concerns it is as if a god had pulled

themself to a material plane, so enduring is

your pursuit of decided objectives.”

“Stop spamming that shit.”

“You make it impossible to focus.”

“Ooooooh ;]”

“Do I now.”

“I will put you on silent for the rest of

eternity.”

“That’s quite a threat, coming from the one of

us who has seen the caliber of their ammunition.”

“God, why can’t you argue like a human

being.”

“Is that…”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“So you really did intend to send that?”

“I’m serious."

"You know that was out of reflex.”

“I’m allowed to answer?”

“Because I was certain we were both quite aware

of the answer to that question.”

“But I’m more than happy to clear up the confusion.”

“Ihandris I will remove your ability to

retain hands across any iteration.”

“How would you even manage that?”

“Logistically, I mean.”

“I’m innovative when properly motivated.”

“No, no, I understand that.”

“I’m simply fascinated by the conceptual limitations.”

“Would you commit such a complete act of violence as

to render me incapable of producing hand or

hand-adjacent appendages across all possible lives?”

“I’m considering it.”

“Or would you simply remain at my side for the rest of

existence, manually removing any attempt at hands

of my own each time I made the attempt.”

“I can’t believe I allow you to speak to me.”

“You offered me a fascinating puzzle, I’m just trying

to unravel it, offer suggestions, sound out theories.”

“I’m so upset that I can’t kill you now

without regrets.”

“You tell me the sweetest things.”

“Mmm.”

“You have this way with words.”

“A poet, even.”

READ 10:36 AM

10:41 AM

“So that’s a no on dinner?”

“I want to rip out someone’s eyelids each

time we exchange words.”

“I’ll see you at 7.”

“I eagerly await your company.”

READ 10:42 AM

[celsidebottom]

So apparently the reason my internet was down this weekend is because the box outside where all the wires connect was messed up and the technician concluded that it was done by

either a particularly determined animal that bit the shit out of the box

OR

The box got shot

Given that I live in a moderately rural area and our neighbors shoot guns multiple times per day, I think the jury is still out on this one

[usuallydecentwriter]

So about this I’m doing a final project for biology about plastic in the ocean and this is what I’m starting off with I thought it looked pretty neat and it was important for people to know so I decided to share it :)

[likeicarusundone]

@femmefatalenet | event eight | chloris 

Everytime you look at me flowers grow inside my body. (x)

listen here