After listening to "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion," Cao Ye felt as though every line of its lyrics was poetry.
Yet none of those lines was actually a poem.
And still, every line carried a poetic resonance.
Blue Star had none of the ancient poems mentioned above, so Cao Ye could not possibly have associated the song with them.
But the imagery in "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion" did exist on Blue Star.
Running script, the moon, a millennium stele, a shepherd's flute, yellow rice wine, the fragrance of ink, cinnabar, bluestone paving, a lady's secluded chambers, needles and thread, flowers, butterflies...
These also frequently appeared in Blue Star's ancient poetry, across many different themes.
Cao Ye had studied ancient poetry extensively.
In fact, the ornate language of his lyrics was influenced by ancient poetry.
That was probably why he felt that every line of "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion" was a poem.
"You've written calligraphy into your lyrics." Cao Ye looked at Xu Fang and asked, "Is there anything you can't write about?"
Xu Fang wanted to say he had just thrown something together...
But that sounded too much like showing off, so he changed his answer. "My dad's been really into calligraphy lately. It gave me some inspiration."
His father, Xu Haifu, had already retired.
Aside from buying groceries, cooking, and taking his pet bird out, he had little to do each day.
Occasionally, he went to help at his wife Zhang Huilan's traditional Chinese medicine clinic, only to be scorned by her. "You're a cook. What are you doing making trouble in a clinic?"
Fine, his wife had a point.
Everyone had their own specialty.
A cook really did not belong in a clinic. He could not diagnose patients, and he worried about making mistakes dispensing medicine...