Five-colored stone

Author: [Qing] Pen-Yan-Guo Master
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-05-01
Features: Talented men are destined to be paired with beautiful women, and beautiful women are destined to be paired with talented men. Yet, the deep need between the two often leads to infrequent encounters. Extraordinary beauties often meet mediocre men, while charming scholars rarely meet lovely ladies. It is truly mysterious what the heavens intend, to pair them in such a way. Take Xie Youyou, who met a woman lacking in passion, who threw her shuttle and broke her teeth at him; or Zhu Shuzhen, who met a husband who failed to understand her, spending her life in sorrow, writing poems filled with heart-wrenching lines—how could these not be events that have always been lamented and pitied? The book consists of eight volumes, each narrating a separate story. It begins by narrating the era of Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan Dynasty, where Tao Shangzhi, a local scholar of Zhejiang, had a daughter named Han Yu. She was beautiful and talented, and her father was arranging her marriage. At that time, two students, Huang and Mu, were studying at Tao's estate in the back garden. Huang was handsome, scholarly, and exceptionally talented, the son of an old friend of Tao Gong; while Mu was rough, vulgar, unlearned, and the son of an official. Mu harbored ill intentions, wanting to marry Han Yu and, using Huang's poems, posed as Huang to win Tao Gong's favor. Han Yu, veiled, interviewed the two students and discovered the truth. Huang and Han Yu pledged their hearts to each other. Later, when Tao Gong was Mu's father's subordinate, Mu's father plotted against Tao Gong. Huang passed the imperial examination as the top scholar (jieyuan) and his examiner, Bai Su, wished to choose Huang as her lover. However, she heard that Han Yu had died, and Huang was heartbroken. At Tao's estate for mourning, he learned that Han Yu was still alive. Eventually, Huang married both Tao and Bai's daughters. The book concludes with a tale of romance from the era of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty. Scholar Zhu Fengju was young, talented, and renowned far and wide. The He family had a daughter named Lan Xiao, equally beautiful and talented. Fengju went to the He family to propose marriage. Lan Xiao and her maid Ni Chang were of similar appearance, and the two exchanged places to meet Fengju. Soon, a faction of traitors rebelled, bringing calamity upon both families. Zhu's relatives fled far away, and the book boy, Diao He, who bore a resemblance to Fengju, took his place and fled; the women of the He family were taken into the palace as slaves, and Lan Xiao disguised herself as Ni Chang to avoid trouble. Later, the traitors were defeated, the family calamity lifted, Fengju passed the imperial examination as the top scholar (zhuangyuan), and both Lan Xiao and Ni Chang returned to Fengju.