original text

translate

Su Xiaomei is Su Shi's sister. It is said that she is as talented as Su Shi, and a story about Su Xiaomei's "refining Chinese characters" is widely circulated.

According to legend, one day, Huang Tingjian chatted with Su Shi at Su Xiaomei's home, and made a topic, asking to add a word to the two sentences of "Beautiful Willow in the Breeze" and "Plum Blossom in the Pale Moon" to become two five-character poems.

Without thinking, Su Dongpo casually recited: "The breeze shakes the willows, and the bright moon reflects the plum blossoms."

Su Xiaomei said, "Good is good, but not the best."

Huang Tingjian saw Su Xiaomei denying two poems by Su Shi. After thinking for a while, he said, "The breeze and the willows dance together, and the plum blossoms are hidden in the moonlight."

Su Xiaomei still said: "Good is good, but not the best."

They all asked Su Xiaomei what was the best. The answer given by Su Xiaomei is: "The breeze helps the willows, and the fragrance of plum blossoms eliminates the jade."

Su Dongpo and Huang Tingjian can't help applauding, because in Su Xiaomei's two poems, the wind just "helped" the willow, and the willow didn't "shake" or "dance", which shows how "light" the wind is; In the moonlight, the plum blossom simply lost its trace, which shows that the moonlight is really "pale". Su Xiaomei tied the words "light" and "lightness" in his poems, which is very accurate and appropriate, so it is better than Su Dongpo's and Huang Tingjian's poems.

(This article was downloaded from Baidu Library and translated into classical Chinese with Su Xiaomei's refined words. Thanks to the original author. )