Chapters
5 totalProduced by Hung-yan Lin
書竟，复朗誦一遍，擱筆沉吟，百無聊賴。繼念香魂雖有依歸，新冢尚無表識，于心不能無歉。夢霞固擅雕龍之技者，乃取白石一方，X而平之，伏案奏刀，二時始就。其文曰：
由蘇台赴錫，不越百里，今為風雨所阻，舟行竟日，計程尚未及半。行行重行行，時已薄黃昏矣。長天色死，古渡人稀，悵望前途，混茫一片。須臾進一港，斷橋孤倚，老樹交橫，岸上漁舍櫛比，炊煙四起，微聞人聲。漁舟三四，泊于水濱，兩三星火，直射水面，作磷光點點。舟子曰：“此大好系舟處矣。”舟既傍岸歇，舟子O火作炊。時雨歇孤篷，月生遠水，碧波如練，夜色絕佳。舟子飽后即眠，不脫蓑衣，酣然入夢矣。夢霞不能遽睡，推篷而出，危坐船頭，領略秋江夜景。時則一輪明月，照徹江干，雨后新霽，色倍澄鮮，隔溪漁笛，參差斷續，其聲幽咽，入耳而生愁。流螢几點，掩映于荇藻之旁，若与漁火爭光者。夢霞對此可怜之夜景，不覺触動离思，潸然淚下，大有赤壁舟中客所歌“渺渺兮余怀，望美人兮天一方”之慨。雖鏡地不同，寄情各別，所以興怀，其致一也。俯仰之余，口占一律以抒悲感：
夢霞吟畢，涕不可仰。梨娘亦掩面悲啼。數聲嗚咽，如子夜之聞歌；四目模糊，作楚囚之相對。斯時一粟之燈暈，兩面為淚花所障，光明漸減，室中之景象呈极端之愁慘，几有別有天地，非复人間之概。相思味苦，不道相逢更苦。受盡万种凄涼，只博一場痛哭。冤哉，冤哉！若合若离，不生不死，一角情天，竟有若是之迷离變幻者。此情此景，旁觀者為之酸鼻，當局者能不椎心？有頃，夢霞悄然起，剔已殘之瑑K，索紙筆更賦四律。心中苦痛難以言宣，聊以詩泄。這回相見，舍此更別無可述者矣。
花前偎淚，燈下盟心，去影匆匆，余情惘惘。夢霞別后，梨娘猶悄對殘煄A追思往事。遙听牆外柝聲，似摧人睡；推出窗前月影，莫照心來。人去情留，愁來夢杳，鬟低弄影，手倦支頤。視案上吟箋，墨痕猶濕，低哦一過，惻然神傷。顧影低徊，縈思宛轉，即援筆續其后曰：
Description
A delicate, rain‑kissed courtyard becomes the world of a solitary wanderer named Dream‑霞. She spends her days tending to two contrasting blossoms—a wilted pear flower that drifts like fallen snow and a newly unfurling magnolia that burns with fresh colour. Her reverence for the fragile petals borders on obsession, turning each sunrise into a quiet ceremony of admiration, grief, and whispered promises to protect the dying bloom.
When night falls, the courtyard fills with the soft, mournful sigh of a unseen presence. Dream‑霞 discovers a lone figure beneath the pear tree, weeping as if the flower’s spirit itself has taken human form. The encounter deepens the mystery of the blossoms’ fate and hints at a lingering bond between the caretaker and the ethereal lament, setting the stage for a haunting exploration of love, loss, and the thin line between memory and the supernatural.
Details
Language
zh
Duration
~1 hours (106K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
2008-05-19
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects
About the author
Zhenya Xu
1889–1937
A major early Republican-era novelist, he became famous for emotionally charged love stories and helped define the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly style. His best-known novel, Yu Li Hun (The Jade Pear Spirit), was a sensation in its day and stayed influential long after its first publication.
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