Volume 10 Chapter 39 Her Robe is a Cloud, Her Face a Flower

“Snow yearns for release as darkness welcomes itself in. Can I offer you a cup of wine to warm up at my humble abode?” Inviting Liu Shijiu - Bai Juyi (Tang Dynasty poet)

The beauty of winter scenery cannot hold a candle to the charm of Jiangnan’s snow, the gentle breeze before the rain or the graceful argent orb. Despite the cold, wine wasn’t the hottest selling item in Cuiwei Town. Instead, the seats to a play sold out; no matter whom it was, everyone in town wanted to see Cuiwei Inn’s Moon Worship Pavilion play.

Moon Worship Pavilion depicts the touching romance story of a destitute man and the daughter of a scholar’s family, who are met with the ardent objection of her father. No amount of tears could convince the wealthy scholar to spare her feelings or life a thought. To her surprise, the groom, who showed up on the day she was scheduled to be married to, was the man she’d be yearning for all the time.

When the man’s proposal was rejected in the past, he put his nose to the grindstone - technically books - and took the scholar examination. Right after he was accepted, he went to propose. While she was happy to see her lover again, her father, who only cared for what robe his son-in-law wore, raised his mace at the scholar he once drove off.

The scholar fumed, “I insist on marrying Ruilan. As her father, how can thou disregard her feelings and prioritise only thy feelings?”

Her father held his mace out at the scholar and scowled: “Avaunt. Thou art not worthy. Unless four things happen, thou shall never have my daughter’s hand.”

“What four things?!”

“One, the sun must rise in the west