Silence!
The entire Orchid Pavilion Tower fell utterly silent!
Everyone stared wide-eyed at Jiang Xiaobai on the raised platform, as though they had forgotten even to breathe.
When did the bright moon first appear? Wine cup in hand, I ask the azure sky.
People know sorrow and joy, parting and reunion; the moon knows cloud and clear, fullness and waning.
May we live long, sharing the moon's beauty though a thousand miles apart.
As those lines fell, everyone felt as though something had struck their minds hard.
On the Fourth Floor, Lin Fengshuo rose straight to his feet.
He looked at Jiang Xiaobai in disbelief, his lips moving, yet he could not manage a complete sentence for the longest time.
Li Bingzhang sat there with his mouth slightly open.
The teacup in his hand trembled even harder.
A little tea spilled out, but he did not even notice.
This moon...
He drew a sharp breath!
Even he felt goosebumps rising all over his body.
Not just in one spot-they erupted from his spine all the way to his scalp.
Yes, that bright moon, that azure sky, those jade halls and jeweled towers seemed to unfold right before his eyes.
Human sorrow and joy, the moon's waxing and waning-all of it came to rest in that final line about sharing its beauty across a thousand miles.
Incredible!
Absolutely incredible!
Of course, they were not the only ones. Once the scholars present recovered their senses, every one of them began rubbing his arms.
"Ah..."
"Why have I got goosebumps all over?"
"You can write about the moon like this? Holy shit!"
"This isn't just writing about the moon-he's written the whole human world into it!"
"People know sorrow and joy, parting and reunion; the moon knows cloud and clear, fullness and waning...