The crowd surged toward Zhang Ruoxu's former residence, Bright Moon Residence.
Zhang Ruoxu was a Tang Dynasty poet, ranked alongside He Zhizhang, Zhang Xu, and Bao Rong as one of the Four Scholars of Wu.
"A Moonlit Night on the Spring River" was his signature work, a widely beloved, timeless masterpiece hailed as a pioneering work of Tang poetry, with the reputation of "a single lyric surpassing both Song dynasties, a lone poem eclipsing all of Tang."
He was a truly gifted scholar.
In fact, however, he was even more accomplished in music.
"A Moonlit Night on the Spring River" was originally an old title from the Music Bureau's "Qing Shang Qu Ci: Wu Sheng Ge Qu," said to have been composed by Emperor Houzhu of Chen, the female scholars in his palace, and his courtiers as they exchanged songs.
The most famous among them, "Jade Trees and Courtyard Flowers," was one of the most sumptuous melodies of its time.
But Zhang Ruoxu drew on the finest Southern Dynasties literature and the literary nourishment of his own era, expanding poetry's lofty imagery and metrical forms to achieve a perfect unity of content and form.
"A Moonlit Night on the Spring River" consisted of thirty-six lines, divided into groups of four, with three lines rhyming in each group.
The rhyme changed every four lines, beginning with level-tone rhymes and ending with oblique-tone rhymes in the final group.
As its rhymes shifted, the poem alternated between level and oblique tones, rising and falling with harmonious transitions, both circling back and unfolding endlessly. Its musical rhythm was powerful and beautiful, truly bringing vocal expression and literary feeling into seamless harmony-a testament to his astonishing talent.
In this world, his martial aptitude was equally exceptional. A master of both zither and sword, he was