Chapter 2: 上冊：洛陽夢

the first book: a dream of luoyang

my arrival to luoyang, our respective marriages, and our first taste of power. and the first signs of the rotting within.

from the 63rd year of the dan dynasty to the 70th year.

劉希夷《代悲白頭翁》節選

洛陽城東桃李花，飛來飛去落誰家？

洛陽女兒惜顏色，坐見花長嘆息。

今年花落顏色改，明年花開復誰在？

已見松柏摧為薪，更聞桑田變成海。

古人無復洛城東，今人還對落花風。

年年歲花相似，歲歲年人不同。

Liu Xiyi's "For the Sorrow of the White-Haired Elder", an Excerpt

(translation taken from https://chichilations.home.blog/2022/03/02/white-haired-elder/ with some edits)

Blossoms in east Luoyang fly to and fro — on whose house do they land?

The woman of Luoyang are of great beauty, but sigh as they stare at the the flowers.

This year, flowers fall, colours fade. Next year, flowers will bloom again, but who will see?

I have seen the pine trees cut down for coin, and I have heard of mulfields turned to sea.

Ancients haunt not the city's east, modern folk still face fallen petals on the wind.

Year upon year, the flowers stay the same. Year after year, the people always change.

那年，我們也只是十幾歲的小姑娘，不懂權貴，不懂心計，不懂人心的險惡。

that year, we were only girls in their teens, ignorant to power, ignorant to schemes, ignorant to the evils of man's heart.