#xiangcao

[sixteenthshen]

son-in-law is the cutest

From episode 29: 金风玉露一相逢，天上人间不算数。 在天愿为比翼鸟，在地愿为连理树。

Novel!canon Cao Weining is the king of messing up poetry & drama!CWN is no different. CWN's nickname is son-in-law, so I'll just be calling him SIL since that's what I'm used to; A-Xiang's nickname is "daughter". 😛 

There aren’t really any hidden meanings here, just SIL professing his love for A-Xiang and foreshadows their BE 😢

The first two lines come from the poem 《鹊桥仙》. The first line: 金风玉露一相逢 Literal translation: A chance meeting when the golden winds* blow, and the ground covered with dew the colour of jade** 

SIL: 天上人间不算数。(tian shang ren jian bu suan shu) Meaning: Nothing counts, whether it's in the heavens above or in this mortal world.  Original poem: 便胜却、人间无数。(bian sheng que, ren jian wu shu) Meaning: But it's better than the innumerable other meetings in this world. 

This poem refers to the cowherd & the weaver girl's love story, where they were not allowed to be together. One day a year, on the 7th day of the 7th month (qi xi), a flock of magpies would form a bridge across the heavenly river so they can reunite.

The whole meaning of this line is: When the golden autumn winds blow, and white dew rests on the ground, to meet (with you) just once is more than the innumerable other meetings in life. 

I'm *guessing* what SIL means is: When the golden autumn winds blow, and white dew rests on the ground, to meet (with you) just once would make the rest of the world meaningless.

The next two lines come from poem 《长恨歌》: SIL: 在天愿为比翼鸟，在地愿为连理树。(zai tian yuan wei bi niao, zai di yuan wei lian li shu [tree]) Original poem: 在天愿作比翼鸟，在地愿为连理枝。(zai tian yuan zuo bi yi niao, zai di yuan wei lian li zhi [branch]) Meaning: In the skies, I'm willing to be two inseparable birds*** flying together. On the earth, I'm willing to be two branches**** interlocked with each other. 

It's "interesting" that both the poems SIL/CWN quoted, well, misquoted here, are all tragic (compared to the occasionally happy endings of the love poems that Lao Wen quotes for A-Xu). The first poem talks about the cowherd and weaver girl, who can never be together except for a single day a year. The second poem is very well known, featuring Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty and his Beloved Consort Yang (Yang Guifei). 

T/N behind the cut 

Also i finally made a tags page, so people can find stuff. After all, 300/301 posts are about WoH. For posts similar to this, follow this tag.

*Golden winds refer to the autumn winds blowing golden leaves.  **Jade dew refers to White Dew (白露), a name of a season in the old calendar, around the 8th of September. ***The bird he mentions is "bi yi niao", it's a mythical pair of birds in Chinese folklore, where the two birds each have one eye and one wing. They can only fly when they're with each other. I can't find the English translated name for this, so I'm using pinyin. Although SIL used a slightly different word in the first line, the meaning is the same. ****The correct phrase should be "连理枝" (lian li zhi). It refers to branches from separate trees (different roots) that have grown and interlocked with each other that it's impossible to separate. It's also known as "husband and wife trees" or "life and death trees". There's nothing called a "连理树" (lian li shu); SIL just mixed up the name here, that's all. 

LOOK AT SIL’S HAPPY PROUD FACE AT HIS OWN POETRY SKILLZ

[sixteenthshen]

word of honor, where the husbands are the kinda pitiful. no mercyyyy

[sixteenthshen]

can we talk about how cute cao weining is please？

look at his little nervous hands when he thinks he has a chance to get gu xiang to stay with him when WKZ and ZZS head off to the ends of the world for their retirement