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Showing posts from September 15, 2024

Chapter 51: Those who love are mocked by those who do not (XII)

Yun Niang? Song Shijiu chewed the noodles and looked at Li Shiyi. “My husband, called Shen Sanbai, born in the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong, [1] was from Changzhou.” Yun Niang added a phrase, “It’s the Suzhou of today.” Shen Fu, “Six Records of a Floating Life”. Li Shiyi’s eyes filled with an expression of clear understanding, and she raised her forearm to support her chin, calmly listening to her engaging speech. “Along with my husband, we were the qin and the se, [2] our affections deep and inseparable, the highest grade of conjugal love. My husband’s temperament was gentle and sweet, and his character was also friendly; if there was a single defect in the perfection, it was that my father- and mother-in-law didn’t like me much, because I was envious. Among the women of the common world, if there was one’s true love, naturally she would want to take the entirety of the singular love and favour from the world; how would she not be envious?” Envious? Song Shijiu paused her chops...