Duanmu Ci clutched the letter and sat by the window all night.
He gazed at the moon for a long time.
Those fleeting memories have all drifted away with the wind, turning into dust and scattering in the pens of historians and poets. The past cannot be retrieved; only this bright, clear moon can bear witness.
Duanmu Ci remembered a friend who loved the moon. His favorite thing to do was to sit by the window, among the flowers, or on a cliff with a pot of wine, quietly watching the moon. Occasionally, when he was in high spirits, he would recite a poem. When he was drunk, he would casually scribble it on paper. His handwriting was messy, but it would spread throughout Luoyang the next day. Scholars and literati would scramble to copy it, and famous courtesans would sing and play it in the brothels.
That was truly a remarkable person, Duanmu Ci often thought of him. He remembered another time when they were drinking on the shore of the East China Sea, sitting on a cliff, with the dark sky and sea in front of them, as if shrouded in a black veil, with only a silver moon shining brightly on the seabed, like a still, submerged jade.
Overjoyed, he stood up unsteadily, holding the wine jug, and then recited aloud to the bright moon, "The Jade Capital in the heavens, with its five towers and twelve cities. An immortal touched my head, granting me eternal life." The sea breeze at night blew on him, making his white robes billow as if he were about to ascend to heaven.
Duanmu Ci was also drunk. Upon seeing this, he laughed loudly and reached out to grab Duanmu Ci's sleeve. "Brother, do you wish to become an immortal? Excellent, excellent! Share immortality with me."
He laughed loudly, casually tossed the wine jug into the waves below the cliff, and roared to the sky, "Go away, go away! Baiyujing, here I come!" With that, he laughed and jumped off the cliff, leaping into the vast blue waves of the East China Sea.
Duanmu Ci also stood up. He laughed loudly towards the bottom of the cliff, "Brother wishes to visit Baiyujing, how could I dare not comply?" With that, he threw down his wine pot and jumped off.
Two completely drunk men, their minds clouded, jumped off a cliff into the sea, intending to ascend to the Jade Capital. Luckily, the icy waters of the East Sea jolted them awake, otherwise they would have truly ascended…
The man was a landlubber, so Duanmu Ci swam with all his might to support him... He didn't catch the moon, but he did catch a poet.
After they reached the shore, they looked at each other's clothes and hair. They stared at each other for a long time, then burst into laughter. They then borrowed a small boat from a nearby fisherman. Under the cover of night, they sailed on the East China Sea. Facing the vast expanse of heaven and earth, he was inspired to write poetry again and loudly recited: "Sea travelers speak of Yingzhou, its misty waves making it hard to find. The people of Yue speak of Mount Tianmu, its clouds and rainbows perhaps visible. Mount Tiantai, eighteen thousand feet high, seems about to topple to the southeast. I wish to dream of Wu and Yue, and fly across Mirror Lake in a single night under the moon... The pleasures of the world are fleeting, all things in history flow eastward like water. When will I return after parting from you? Let the white deer roam freely among the green cliffs. When the time comes, I will ride to visit famous mountains. How can I bow and scrape before the powerful and wealthy, making me unable to be happy?"
Duanmu Ci tapped the side of the boat and echoed the music, then sighed, "The pleasures of this world are fleeting, like all things in the past flowing away like the eastward-flowing river. Indeed, it is so!"
"Others who hear my poem all like the line 'How can I bow and scrape before the powerful and wealthy, making me unable to be happy?' Why does Brother Cizhi alone prefer 'All things in the past flow eastward like water'? Could it be that Brother Cizhi has experienced something similar?"
"Hahahaha—My parents gave me life, but it is my brother Li Bai who truly understands me!"
"You flatter me too much. Come, 'Sages and worthies of old are all forgotten, only drinkers leave their mark.' Let us drink together. Let us drink together!"
"Alright! Brother Taibai, quickly fill my cup! We're right here on the East Sea. We won't leave until we're drunk!"
"Haha, what a great honor you bestow upon me! Even when I was in the Daming Palace, when have I ever poured my own wine? The emperor served soup, the imperial concubine held inkstones, and the strongman removed my boots—how elegant! I never imagined that I would have to pour wine for someone else in front of Brother Cizhi today. Wonderful, truly wonderful!"
"Brother Taibai, no need for further words. Fill the cups quickly! After we finish drinking tonight, we'll head back to Chang'an tomorrow. Last year, a wealthy Persian merchant promised to bring me the finest wine from his hometown this year! It's about time. Let's drink again when we get back to Chang'an!"
"Alright, let's go back to Chang'an, let's go back to Chang'an for a drink!"
...
...
Who first saw the moon by the riverbank? In what year did the river moon first shine on man? Life goes on endlessly, generation after generation, but the river moon remains the same year after year. I wonder for whom the river moon waits, as I only see the Yangtze River carrying its flowing water.
Duanmu Ci had lived for so long and experienced so many people and events that even he himself couldn't remember some of them clearly. For example, he couldn't remember whether he had set up an altar to borrow the east wind when he was at Chibi. Luo Guanzhong's writing was so realistic that it made his memory a little blurry.
There are many things history books won't record because they're too insignificant to be documented by historians. Just as history won't record his drinking with Li Bai on the cliffs of the East Sea, or how the great poet almost truly became an immortal. But these events are important, so they need a witness. No one believes they are qualified or capable of witnessing the story of an immortal being; only the moon can, only the moon can do it.
Dynasties rise and fall, people change, but none of that matters, because the bright moon remains unchanged. From the moment Duanmu Ci first saw it, it has always been the same, never changing. Sometimes Duanmu Ci even thinks that the bright moon was born for him, that they are friends from birth.
There are many things that cannot be told to humans, but can be told to the moon, for the moon knows everything. Just as it knows that these ancient schools of thought still exist on earth, unlike mortals who believe they have long since perished.
Duanmu Ci sat there, thinking and watching, as the moon gradually disappeared and dawn began to break in the east.
When Bu Tongxun opened the door, she found Duanmu Ci still sitting on the edge of the bed, motionless, in the same posture as when she closed the door and left last night.
He sat here all night.
Just as Bu Tongxun was about to say something, Duanmu Ci turned around and said to her, "Come here and look at this letter. Look at the envelope of this letter. It's drawn so well. A sword is stuck in the ground, which means they don't like war. But his hand is on the sword, which means that when he needs to, he can draw his sword at any time and wipe out whatever needs to be wiped out. This is the Mohist school, just like what they did in the State of Song back then."
"The Mohist School?" Bu Tongxun asked, puzzled. "Which family is the Mohist School? I've never heard of them! Are they very powerful?"
“Powerful? Of course they are powerful.” Duanmu Ci smiled slightly. “You know that our Duanmu family is a very ancient family, but they are just as ancient as us, and even more famous than us. They are truly etched in history.”
"That's amazing?" Bu Tongxun's eyes widened.
"Of course they are amazing. They built an empire with their own hands and buried it with their own hands. How many people have such a grand vision?"
Bu Tongxun hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.
Duanmu Ci looked at her and chuckled softly, "It's nothing serious, just some old friends who heard about me and wanted to have a drink with me. It's nothing." (To be continued...)
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