This is my first video and there will be more on
Word of Honor's literature, poetry, folk culture references
to allow the 2 male leads to flirt under broad daylight.
In this video, we're gonna cover episode 1 to episode 14,
the stuff that I've noticed
stuff that's worth talking about,
because this drama is set in a fictional time.
So you can't quite tell what is the specific dynasty
the characters are living in
they are referring to literature that comes from.
All times.
Wen Kexing, as a character written in the drama version.
He is a very heavy poetry user.
So he tends to recite a poem before he starts to talk about something,
the poem doesn't have to be directly flirtatious
or really referring to anything specific.
it may just be describing what condition they're under,
or what is the physical space they are in
For example, if he's by a river
he talks about a poem that's referring to something river, water
that's not necessarily connected to anything
apart from... show off that his well educated.
I think this is very interesting for the writer to add that in
because this is a character who had a real bad childhood,
and he probably didn't get well educated by his parents.
And sometimes when people don't have something,
they would revengefully try to get more of that.
So I can totally see,
as he grows up on his own,
he taught himself and there's definitely an over compensation going on with that,
which result in him really liking to show off
his literature knowledge
earlier on in episode two,
when he tried to convince Zhou Zishu taking the
same ferry as he does to go to Jing Hu Shan Zhuang
the Mirror Lake Manor
he said two lines from a poem to send zhou zi shu off.
dan du wu suo ku
wo zi ying jie ru
It's not a very famous poem
You do have to goolge it
This poem is written in Dong Jin
Eastern Jin dynasty by Wang Xianzhi.
He had a very, very adored concubine.
And this girl often takes this ferry at this place
called tao ye du, peach leaf fairy crossing
And he wrote a series of poem describing their life.
When the girl goes to the ferry point and comes back
and he always goes there to greet her.
dan du wu suo ku
I hope your ferry crossing is smooth.
There would be no difficulty because it is a
place where the water is quite turbulent.
wo zi ying jie ru
I will come and greet you.
So as you can tell Wen Kexing
just does not miss any opportunity to flirt.
Then once they get to the Mirror Lake Manor
in the peach flower forest,
they had this fight.
Then he comes and starts to recite poetry
to describe how beautiful Zhou Zishu's steps are
piao piao xi ruo liu feng zhi hui xue
fang fu xi ruo qing yun zhi bi yue
This is actually reversed order
in the actual poem
The second line comes first.
This comes from a very,
very famous long poem from the Three Kingdoms period from Cao Zhi.
The most talented son from Cao Cao, and he
had this beautiful poem written, Luo Shen Fu
one of the most famous literature piece in chinese history.
And it is a long poem talking about the story of a mythical goddess,
How beautiful she is in all kinds of imaginable ways.
And these two lines,
piao piao xi ruo liu feng zhi hui xue
piao piao means the floating state
the very light weighted floating state
ruo means as, similar to, liu feng zhi hui xue.
liu feng is the whirl of the wind and
hui xue is the snow that turns in circles.
So it's like your steps is so light weighted and floaty
It's like the snow that's been blown by the wind and circulating
fang fu xi ruo qing yun zhi bi yue
As if light cloud covering the moon,
he looks like a beggar.
So like I doubt how much of piao piao and qing yun zhi bi yue really is there,
but Wen Kexing obviously has x ray vision looking through all the disguise.
and know that this is a really good looking guy.
then afterwards he immediately invited
Zhou Zishu to drink with him and ZZS refused.
But at the time to invite Zhou Zishu
he used another line from a very famous poem,
hua jian yi hu jiu, du zhuo wu xiang qin
This comes from a very famous poem from Li Bai
The most famous chinese poet,
pretty much widely recognized,
and this poem is in our textbook.
So every educated chinese person would remember this poem.
It's describing him basically drinking alone at night under
the moon in an environment that has a lot of flowers.
So it's pretty fitting for Wen Kexing to say that
because they're in the forest of flowers
and hua jian yi hu jie means
a bottle of wine or liquor among the flowers,
du zhuo wu xiang qin means
drinking alone without other people.
And then the later part of the poem will keep talking about his sadness.
He's been lonely, he's dancing in the moon.
There's only the moon and his shadow that are his friend.
So although it's not directly flirting,
it's again being reflecting of the environment they're in
and suggesting I don't want to drink.
On my own.
At the end of this episode,
they had this quick exchange of their martial arts in the temple.
And when they're fighting,
you will see Gu Xiang holding two sticks that have 2
flat bread going through them and she's baking them.
And when they're fighting,
she would kind of imitate the skills they have
with those two flat bread hitting each other.
This is a hidden reference that is not very well known.
Most people would miss it.
But then because one person digs it out,
then the entire internet knows
the flat bread in china is called shao bing
tie shao bing, means sticking shao bing
during Ming and Qing dynasty.
It is a very colloquial slang that just means guy and guy
so for the international audiences who are still not aware of that.
well
That is a very interesting sexual reference
in episode 4, when they're having a big fight with the beggars.
Before that, he said a line taken from very
famous chinese literature and historical writing,
(qi bu wen) qing gai ru gu, bai shou ru xin
This is a very good line, you should remember it.
This comes from Shi Ji, Records of Grand Historian,
written by Sima Qian
in Western Han dynasty,
the greatest monumental historian's record of chinese history.
And in one of its articles,
there is a line which says
you bai tou ru xin, qing gai ru gu
bai shou ru xin or bai tou ru xin
literally means white head as new, very simple
But what it means is there are people who have
lived together until their hair all grows white.
They're still as strangers.
They don't really know each other,
but there's also
qing gai ru gu
qing means tip something,
gai is the cover
here is means the canopy of horse drawn carriage
ru gu is as old, as you've known,
but there are also people who only met very briefly as they pass each other
when they are on two different cars and canopy of the car touches.
They are as if they've known each other forever.
So it's describing the weirdness of human relationship.
There are types of friendship that just builds up instantly.
So basically Wen Kexing is saying,
we've only met, we're pretty much "qing gai"
but we can be "ru gu"
we can be actually soulmates
master of flirting.
Also in that episode you'll come across a very
interesting line such as lie nv pa chan lang
This has become one of the most famous line from the drama.
Lie Nv means the woman who cares about her reputation,
and chastity very much,
but she cannot deal or eventually she will yield to somebody who is a chen lang
lang is a guy.
Chen just means circle around or tie something around something.
He also talks about che ye chui xiao
The whole night blowing on the xiao
and dan tian yin tong, dan tian is the area that's below your belly button
and he's saying i'm using my nei gong, my internal sort of the skill
and force to help you throughout the night.
And now i'm exhausted and then i've hurt myself.
But you can totally miss interpret that line, blowing and
that's part of your belly
you know~
Moving on to episode 5
you'll come across Wen Kexing doing something,
an action reference to some homosexual content.
In china's history.
Zhou Zishu's sleeve
is spotted by the blood of the dead body,
and he looks like he really doesn't like it.
So Wen Kexing is like,
let me help you! He cuts off
His sleeve, the sleeve falls onto the ground,
this is broken sleeve.
Duan Xiu
Duan Xiu in chinese means homosexual and the story behind it
is very interesting
Back in Xi Han, Western Han dynasty.
There's an emperor called Ai Di
he has a mian shou or nan chong, which just means
a male mistress
the guy is named Dong Xian
and the emperor
and Dong Xian often sleep together.
The legend goes that one day.
The emperor wakes up and he realizes his sleeve
has been caught under the body of the lover.
But if he pulls the sleeve
he will wake up the guy.
He just loves the guy too much.
So he used a sword to cut off his sleeve so that he
can pull himself free without waking up the guy,
this story and this cutting off sleeve becomes a metaphor for homosexuality,
because the story is very well known
as soon as they showed up on screen.
Everybody's like OMG, Broken Sleeve!
holy shit.
I was very curious about how it got through censorship.
But it did
good for us
episode six right before they had the fight on the river.
And finally Zhou Zishu loses his disguise.
ZZS is getting away.
And wen kexing said a line
(ni yao shi zou le) qian shan mu xue
wo gu yi zhi ying xiang shui qu ya
this is a reference to a very famous poem that
pretty much every chinese person knows
that's written aroudn Jin and Mongolian ruled time
and the poem is talking about the story of
Two wild swans, cause swans are tied with each other
If one dies,
the other one wouldn't remarry.
So they become the symbol for the loyalty between lovers.
And the poem is referring to.
One swan dies.
The other swan is forever lonely.
It's very sad and very famous love poetry,
and it's been widely used in all kinds of dramas and stuff.
shen diao xia lv, for example
The Return of The Condor Hero,
everybody who watches chinese wu xia knows
and Li Mochou, constantly recites this poem.
So this is one line from that which is, qian shan mu xue, zhi ying xiang shui qu
after one swan dies, for the other swan
thousands of mountains, evening snow.
So looking at the view
a lonely shadow,
where should it fly to?
It has no destination anymore.
Wen Kexing is basically saying
if you're gone,
what am I supposed to do?
I'm the lonely swan that loses its partner
when that line came out
because how well known this poem is in china,
everybody was like holy moly
You guys are very, very daring
Then there are a little funny references in
episode 7 when they're in the restaurant.
Wen Kexing tries to make Zhou Zishu pay.
He gave the money to the Xiao Er (waiter)
and this person said,
ke guan ,xie xie
thank you.
Customer
(wo qu gei ni) zhao ling
I will go and find spare changes.
and WKX goes, you don't need to go and Zhao Ling
he money is yours.
So this guy is really happy.
Zhao ling has double meaning, on the surface.
It means go and find spare change.
Zhao is find, Ling is zero,
in BL world in chinese language.
Zero is the bottom, and one is the top.
So when Wen Kexing said, you don't need to go.
And zhao ling for me, pretty much.
As secretly saying,
i've already found my zero.
In episode nine when they're looking at those four old people,
dancing and singing, playing music,
and it becomes a symbol for the ideal,
retired life of theirs.
They talked about the idea of gao shan liu shui, zhi yin nan mi
which is very famous in chinese culture, tall mountain, flowing river,
the person who understands your music is very hard to come across.
It's based on a very famous story of two persons.
I've mentioned it in my previous poetry videos,Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi
a person who is master of Qin playing
and the person who is just a random peasant in the mountain.
One day he's playing, the guy walks by,
and the guy actually understands all his music,
whatever he's trying to picture in his music, the mountain, the water,
whatever that guy understands.
So they immediately becomes, Zhi Ji/Zhi Yin,
know the music, knowing myself,
well, the translation on youtube goes for soul mate,
which is good enough.
But yeah, the actual meaning is the person who understand you fully,
totally completely.
It's not even romantic.
It's just like the most rare thing that can happen to you,
which is you find somebody in this world who fully
understand who you really are
in episode 13,
they had a drink together that ended up in the quarrel
before that though Zhou Zishu referred to himself as somebody
who should end up in the frying pan for like ears.
And Wen Kexing is like,
i'll go in with you, right?
We'll get fried together.
And what they used as a reference is the most famous chinese breakfast food,
the chinese version of fried donut,
not sweetened
and it just 2 long sticks,
and it gets big when it gets fried.
And it's called You Tiao, legend has it
This food is invented during Nan Song,
Southern Song dynasty and it's after the death
of the very famous patriotic general Yue Fei,
he's wronged and then killed.
By at the time,
prime minister Qin Hui, and Qin Hui is a
very infamous person in chinese history.
People of the time hated this prime minister so much.
The song dynasty people invented the food you tiao, which is 2 pieces
of donut that's twisted together and then throw into the oil to fry.
It represents Qin Hui and his wife.
Basically Wen Kexing is saying we are tied together
like the bad wife and husband in history and get fried
Then to conclude today's video,
we're gonna talk about episode 14 when the big revelation happened,
Wen Kexing realized his hope is shattered,
the person he kind of wants to spend the rest of his life with
is not gonna live very long, and he's heart broken and it rained.
When he was playing the xiao on the bridge.
And Gu Xiang shows up.
First.
He said something while he's sitting there,
feng yu ru hui
ji ming bu yi
ji jian jun zi
yun hu bu xi
this comes from Shi JIng
The classic of poetry,
one of the oldest collections of poems in Chinese history
and this particular one has multiple interpretations.
The surface meaning is feng yu ru hui,
wind and rain is dark
so it's a bad weather day.
ji ming bu yi
The rooster is crowing unstopably.
ji jian jun zi
since I've met jun zi
A gentleman, yun hu bu xi
Why shouldn't I say I'm happy?
It can be interpreted as a romantic poetry of a woman waiting for a man.
It could also be used as a metaphor for within a very dark society.
When things are not going very well.
When you meet a person with integrity,
why shouldn't you be happy?
So here for Wen Kexing
he used it probably because it is raining.
It is a bad weather day.
He is in the rain and feeling totally shattered.
And ji jian jun zi, yun hu bu xi
and jun zi clearly is Zhou Zishu
I've met this
brilliant person.
How can I say I'm not happy?
well, I'm really unhappy because I know I'm gonna lose him very soon.
So I'd say this is a very cleverly picked poem to help
Wen Kexing express his feelings at the time,
then he stands up and he recites a poem.
This poem is not from history.
It's purely written by Priest and then added
a little bit more by the script writer.
So it's like the script rider plus the original novel writer.
liang yu zhi qiu
qing wu lao si
yi xiu ku han qi bo qin
First half, liang yu zhi qiu, cool rain
knows autumn.
So when the rain is cold,
You know autumn, fall
the season of slow death has come.
Qing wu lao si
The green parasol tree dies of old age,
parasol tree in Chinese literature either
means somebody who has very high moral
integrity,
the gentleman or it represents love
till death do us apart kind of love.
So you can interpret it as somebody of high
value, high integrity, and gentleman dies.
So that's also referring to what he thinks of Zhou Zishu
but also a general sad atmosphere.
yi xiu ku han qi bo qin, yi xiu means
A whole night, ku han means bitter cold
qi - attack, bo - thin
qin is your quilt
a whole night of cold
attacks the very thin bedding i have
It's a very common description in Chinese poetry using
the thin quilt to describe the lonely and sadness.
Then the second line,
shi shi cuo tuo
si sheng qi kuo
xiang jian hen wan tan nai he
shi shi cuo tuo
the things in this world,
are cuo tuo,
cuo tuo is an adjective describing the state of basically feeling you've
wasted all your time and not really getting anywhere or doing anything.
You feel no result is produce
The things in this world.
all your endeavors often leads to nothing
you kind of have worked so hard for everything and then just
doesn't end anywhere.
si sheng qi kuo is a line also from Shi Jing
Also, a poem that has multiple references,
some people like to use it,
to reference romantic love,
some people like to use it to reference the soldierly
brotherhood between people who are on the battlefield.
I'd say both are applicable
si- death, sheng - life
qi kuo means coming together and then breaking up.
So life and death,
separation and reunion
in the original poem,
the whole thing basically is
si shegn qi kuo, yu zi cheng shuo
zhi zi zhi shou, yu zi xie lao
which means I promise you me
and you promise me you
no matter it's life or death
or separation/ reunion
I will always be with you.
I hold your hand and grow old.
So it just uses 1/4 of that thing to represent the whole meaning here,
which means I want to make that promise with you life and death,
but then, xiang jian hen wan tan nai he
xiang jian hen wan is a very common idiom
2 people meet,
but regret it was too late.
That is what he thinks of their meeting
had we met earlier.
Wouldn't that be great?
tan nai he, tan is exclaim
nai he, If you've watched my stream earlier on, you know what it means,
there's nothing you can do.
It's the helpless state.
so you let out this big sigh
We've met too late.
What can I do?
That is a totally made up poem from the
script writer plus the original writer.
And it's pretty well written.
It has a lot of reference to Chinese traditional history
and symbolism and metaphor.
And it's very fitting for Wen Kexing to say such a thing at the time.
So that concludes episode 1 to episode 14.
All the worth talking about literature references things that's
been very secretive or not so secretive about the
flirtatious nature
As the story progresses,
there are more literature references once i have collected more.
I think that's worth making a video about.
I will do that.
Thank you for watching AvenueX
I'll see you in my next video, meanwhile,
live long and happy drama watching
and happy poetry reciting.