authors afterword (1/2)

I’ve had Tong Hua’s letters to her two Yun Zhong Ge male leads translated and prepared for over 2 months now, but I’ve been reluctant to post because it gives away the ending of the novel. It gives away how most of the characters end up, though in truth it gives away very little at all since what makes YZG so compelling is in the details of the journey and that is not something which can ever be summarized or described. I’ve been trying to keep spoilers at a minimum, but some readers have continued to want to talk about the ending that I’ve given up trying to preserve the intact experience. I’ve also been so swamped with work and dramas that I don’t know how much I can keep translating. I want to continue, but feel ennui setting in on this project. Take this as a closure, but maybe I’ll translate more.

If you choose to read on, know that you’ll be spoiling yourself greatly. But it doesn’t lessen the novel at all, since I knew how the story ended before I even started reading. These two letters made me weepy with emotion and grat.i.tude, to confirm that she felt the same way about these two unforgettable fictional men. These two letters are also a rare glimpse into Tong Hua’s personal thoughts and thought processes when she’s writing her novels. Very illuminating indeed. I remain, as always, completely in awe of her talent. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Ling and Jue, and I’ll share some of mine. For the record, since people keep emailing me begging to know the ending, 5 out of the 8 main leads end up dead.

A letter from Tong Hua to Liu Fu Ling:

They all say I like you. Yes, and I’ve never tried to hide my affection for you. I have such hopes that more and more people will like you. [Me! I also love Ling gege, Tong Hua! You succeeded, he’s simply amazing.] Which is why I so carefully acc.u.mulated all the bits and pieces about you. I know you once wrote a poem “Forever Lily.” A long time after I read it, that is where I got the name “Yun Ge.” You can say that this girl was born for you.

I know that you once boated on a lake to admire the lilies. So I purposely wrote the chapter “Lily Boat Night Song.” I despise the way the history books barely recorded the details, so I wrote for you an entire chapter of a lively and extravagant boating scene. I purposely wrote this scene as the only scene in the book where every single major character shows up in one place. Hong Yi, Ping Jun, Meng Jue, Eldest lord (Liu He)……because I know that I can’t make everyone like you, so I hoped that no matter who the reader likes in the book, if she reminisced about that character, she will have your shadow in that scene recollection.

I also know you wrote a poem “Lullaby to a Yellow Sparrow”, but when I was done writing the entire book I discovered I didn’t have a suitable scene for this poem. And I’m someone who hates to force things. But…..I’m bitter! Because your poems that have pa.s.sed on through the ages are already too few! So I decided to give that poem to the other girl in your life. Is that a coincidence? I don’t know! All I know is that when I was done writing I discovered that the only two poems of yours that have pa.s.sed on through time I had separately imprinted in the memory of these two girls. [Tong Hua gave the Yellow Sparrow poem to Shang Guan Xiao Mei in the final chapter of her book when she has an epilogue, it’s too beautiful for words.]

In the beginning, I believed that you simply died young. But in the end my belief in this was shattered. I was enraged, but I suppose this is just politics. The records say you died at twenty-one or twenty-two. But the records also said you were healthy. Yes! These things they could not alter in the history books, many records were kept before you even ascended the throne. Your father preferred martial arts, he was a man who sought power. Because you were tall and well-built, that was how you satisfied your father’s requirement.

The record books said you were sick for one year, but then it also said you died suddenly so fast that your royal tomb was not yet constructed. The records say you were brilliant and thoughtful, so how was it that when you were sick for an entire year, you never wrote a will! Didn’t you know that an Empire cannot be one day without a ruler? Didn’t you know that if there is a succession void there would be mad chaos?

Didn’t the records say you were loving of your citizens and had great vision. If that was the case, why didn’t you write a will in the entire year you were ill? If you died suddenly, that doesn’t jibe with the records saying you were healthy since childhood, and it doesn’t make sense with the records that show you were healthy at twenty. So unless you died suddenly, then you would know that you did not yet have a son so the succession would be up for grabs. So if you were ill for a time and then suddenly died, you would have left a will! These things, even if you didn’t write it, others would be your scribe. Your ministers would remind you!

These people likely involved were vile…….  So I can’t help but dislike Huo Guang, because everything…everything pointed at him orchestrating it. Even if he’s the younger brother of my beloved Xiao Huo, I still dislike him! But…..when I was writing this character, I discovered that I cannot hate him. He may not have been a good royal courtier, but he was a good official! You can say that the Han people having an official like him was truly Heaven sent! All the reforms, he was the architect of them. Every moment he worried about the welfare of the people. So in the end, before I even realized it, I was no longer writing simply from my own feelings, I was also looking at him from your (Liu Fu Ling’s) perspective. Huo Guang did justice to his ministerial uniform, the wages he received, and the people of the world he served. The people he let down were his offspring, his liege, and perhaps himself.

I was thinking that there was no one in this world who wanted even more scenes of you in YZG. But I only gave you one volume’s time, and at the beginning of volume 3 I said goodbye to you. In those few days I was constantly editing, even hinting why I couldn’t write more? In the end, my logical side led the way. I can’t drag out the story because of you. I don’t think this is what you would have wanted either. But I did my best to give you happiness in the end. [Oh yes she did! Tong Hua, you cruel woman who I adore. Ling gege!!!]

Some people say that you are not three-dimensional enough. I don’t know if that is true or not. All I know is that in my heart, your emotions of love, anger, sadness, and joy are all very vivid. But it was indeed all very mellow. Other than Yun Ge, you are very dispa.s.sionate towards everyone. It’s like you just stand in the distance and all your emotions are so light that it leaves no mark. It’s so light that even your machinations are light. But, just like others have said, your lightness is one reason why we love you so much! [Yes, oh yes, I never thought I would ever love a type of male lead like Ling gege, but that is the magic of Tong Hua.]

Oh right, I forgot to tell you. Meng Jue disappointed you, but he also didn’t disappoint you. You know Meng Jue likes Yun Ge, but you don’t know whether he likes her so much he’s willing to give up the wealth and power of Chang An. So you let Yun Ge go, knowing that he if he saw her as the greatest treasure of his life the way you see her, then he would turn around and leave as well with her. Then he would be her perfect partner. The “wilderness” is where you wanted them to make a home. Otherwise, you would never want this man to ever have any connection with Yun Ge. Because then he would be like all the other men in Chang An seeking power and wealth.

Because of his unparallel talent, his refusal to bow to pressure, the Emperor would not be able to control him. The result is death! So you would have agreed with Liu Xun’s actions later on. But the Meng Jue of that moment still hadn’t broken free of his emotional shackles. He didn’t choose to leave, he still wanted to stay in Chang An to “borrow the lift of the wind to send me up to the vaulted clouds.” But the truth is he likely never even thought of what would happen after he got up to the vaulted clouds? Kill the people who orchestrated the tragedy of his family? Look down at the fates of the people who no longer matter?

You arranged for the best warriors in the Palace to protect Yun Ge. These warriors can protect Yun Ge from any attempt on her life. You also arranged for General Zhao Chong Guo to protect Yun Ge from Tian Xue Du onward. The distance from Chang An to Tian Xue Du is so short! A fast horse would have taken but a few hours. You knew how Meng Jue felt about Yun Ge, but you never knew that Liu Xun (Liu Bing Yi) was secretly keeping an eye on Yun Ge as well. You also never knew that Yun Ge and Meng Jue had an enemy that hated them to the core – Huo Cheng Jun. Maybe Liu Xun would have let Yun Ge go, but Huo Cheng Jun would never have. And since Liu Xun wanted the throne, then he……

Huo Cheng Jun, this girl who knew nothing about the world. In the face of cruel reality she transformed into a woman suitable to succeed in the inner sanctum of the Palace. But the series of things which forced her to change was all connected to Yun Ge! How much she loved Meng Jue, is how much she now hated Yun Ge. When her mother’s hard slap landed on her face, the person she hated was not her mother, it was Yun Ge. What she endured she was going to get it back from Yun Ge. She had already shot numerous secret looks of loathing at Yun Ge, but these things you never saw and never knew about. If Yun Ge was Xiao Mei, she would have noticed and alerted you in advance, telling you not to hesitate and sometimes striking first is necessary. But your Yun Ge would never become that kind of girl. She would never be suitable for the Palace.

So if Meng Jue didn’t leave Chang An, then no matter how much he liked Yun Ge, you wouldn’t accept him as a partner for Yun Ge. In this world, even the smartest person cannot have complete information to make a decision. Even though in my eyes you are that thoughtful and intelligent, but I didn’t intend to write you as omnipotent, so the things you couldn’t see and didn’t know, you could never have antic.i.p.ated it.

I don’t dare to think about how you must feel (to see the things that happened after you left). I can only tell myself that you’ve left already, you already have no pain or suffering. I dare not think…….. In the end, I want to tell you that Yun Ge eventually did do as you wanted and left Chang An. I want to tell you that she”s doing well, she’s will be fine. But….these words I cannot say aloud. I don’t know if she’s doing well. I was thinking Meng Jue might know, and if he chooses to believe it, then I’ll believe it as well!

They keep saying I like you. I think that is the case, but then I think some more and I wonder if that is true? If that is the case, then why did I only give you one volume’s time [YES, why Tong Hua? Why? Why you give and taketh away Ling gege like that?] If I liked you, then why wouldn’t I drag the story out for you? If I liked you, then why didn’t I make you even more perfect? [OMG, if you made Ling gege even more perfect the world would combust, lady!]

But Ling is not like what many people say that he is perfect.

If he was perfect he would not have given Huo Guang a chance to succeed.

If he was perfect he wouldn’t have seen the confusion of succession and followed the wishes of the ministers, only paving the way for either Liu Xun or Liu He to succeed the throne.

If he was perfect, he wouldn’t have let Yun Ge suffer in the aftermath of the chaos. Even though he made every preparation, it ended up being useless, wasn’t it? In the end he’s not a G.o.d, he cannot know what will happen after he’s gone. So how can he be perfect?

But I have to say this, he already did everything so well.

The historical records show that Liu Fu Ling ascended the throne at the age of eight. In the face of his courtiers he refused to bow down and consolidated his power. Such intelligence, who can compare? Emperor Wu of Han eschewed all those adult princes of his and chose to pa.s.s the throne to him. The thousands of miles of an Empire rested on the shoulders of a child. This can only prove how capable and outstanding Liu Fu Ling was.

It’s intelligence, an intelligence he was born with, giving him talent beyond what normal people possess. But it made him seem ephemeral, too ideal.

But this is not perfection, this is talent.

This is not ephemeral, this is intelligence.

This is not fiction, this is historical fact.

So I hope those readers who think Ling is too perfect to slowly and patiently appreciate his character. Don’t use one word “perfect” and brush him aside. Perfect should not become his flaw, it should not be the reason readers don’t like him.

Tong Hua’s letter to Meng Jue:

Before writing this letter to you, my debate with the Jades (Tong Hua’s reader book club) almost had my heart twisted in a knot. I feel like I ought to be so jealous of you that I hate you! Their love for you is so overwhelming, so thick that there is no place to seep out. In the end it all falls on me, but thankfully there aren’t too many reading club members, and there are only a handful that cannot let you go. Thank G.o.d I’m no longer in Shanghai, or else if they go bats.h.i.+t on me, I wouldn’t know what to do. To be sure, their struggle is over your ending. There are some Jades that are more rational about it, otherwise I might have to go find a corner and cry. [Don’t cry, Tong Hua, there was nowhere you could have taken the King of the Jades but to there. I support you!]

But you obviously wouldn’t pity me. You’ll just be like I imagined you in my dreams, across a vast foggy distance, staring coldly at me. I wouldn’t even be able to figure out whether or not you cared about the ending I gave you. In Bu Bu Jing Xin, all the male characters are real historical figures. Their past and their futures are written in stone. With Qing stories so popular, even the illiterate grandmas in the Beijing hutongs can recount how many sons Emperor Kangxi had and their names. They are already so vividly described in the records so my writing about them was easy. A few words and the readers would accept it.

Like when I wrote that 4th Prince and his mother had a bad relations.h.i.+p. I didn’t need to explain why because everyone already knew why. Readers don’t need to dissect why they didn’t get along or need an acceptable reason, BBJX’s success I need to thank the Qing Chuan genre (time-traveling Qing era), that everyone knew Emperor Yongzheng, knew 13, knew 14 and what happened between them. Otherwise with all the details I wouldn’t be able to fully cover in BBJX.