Divine Tang Era

Li Zhu, however, didn't care about boasting or not. She leaned limply against the couch, propping her face up with one hand and waving a fan in the other, and said, "Alright, now can you tell me the legendary story of Fan Lihua, who caused such a stir?"

"This is a long story, it can't be told in a day or two."

"It's alright, I have time anyway."

"But I don't have time," Xu Dan muttered to himself, but he could only say it to himself. Having just traded a bunch of things, he couldn't just pack up and leave, so he could only tell the legendary story of Xue Dingshan and Fan Lihua.

There are many versions of the story of Xue Dingshan and Fan Lihua, but Xu Dan's favorite is the one in the Taiwanese opera TV series.

Because the actors in the Taiwanese version are very beautiful, and it features kung fu, Taoist magic, and other supernatural elements, it's very interesting.

However, Xu Dan's version was a fusion, which said: "The golden boy and jade girl in heaven, the pear blossoms of Dingshan are predestined."

During the Peach Banquet, all the immortals attended. The golden boy and jade girl, playing around, accidentally broke a precious jade mirror and a rhombus-shaped mirror. The Jade Emperor demanded their punishment, but the Old Man of the South Pole pleaded for them, saying that the two had desires for mortal life and suggested they descend to the mortal realm to marry and fulfill their long-cherished wish.

The Jade Emperor then cast the two of them down to the mortal realm.

The golden boy and jade girl walked out of the Lingxiao Palace and happened to encounter the disheveled five ghost stars.

The Jade Maiden, though inwardly disgusted by his ugliness, smiled kindly on the surface. This smile caused a great disaster; the Five Demons with Disheveled Hair, thinking she was interested in him, also descended to the mortal realm to be reincarnated. The Golden Boy, seeing her laughing indiscriminately at people, became extremely jealous. The Jade Maiden, indignant, descended to the mortal realm and left.

The Golden Boy is Xue Dingshan, the Jade Maiden is Fan Lihua, and the Five Ghosts with Disheveled Hair is Yang Fan of White Tiger Pass.

The three are entangled in a web of grudges. Yang Fan and Fan Lihua were betrothed since childhood, but Fan Lihua prefers Xue Dingshan, which leads to a tale of love, hate, and revenge.

This story continues the legend of Xue Rengui that I mentioned last time, and it is undoubtedly very exciting.

At a time when the Tang Dynasty was weak and Xue Rengui was critically ill, the Western Liang Kingdom, with its elite and fierce army, launched an invasion with overwhelming force. Fan Lihua was the daughter of Fan Hong, the commander of Hanjiang Pass in Western Liang. She had cultivated with the Old Mother of Lishan since childhood, possessing the power to move mountains and overturn seas, and her Taoist magic was unparalleled. Xue Dingshan was Xue Rengui's son and the commander of the second route of the Tang army's western expedition. He had studied with the Old Ancestor Wang Chan since childhood, and his military strategy and tactics were unmatched.

The two sides were at odds, and Fan Lihua fell in love with Xue Dingshan at first sight.

In the story, Fan Lihua captures and releases Xue Dingshan three times, while Xue Dingshan divorces and marries Fan Lihua three times.

Fan Lihua did not kill her father or brother, yet she was burdened with the infamy of doing so.

When Li Zhu heard the exciting parts of the story, she couldn't help but feel sympathy for Fan Lihua. She thought that the foreign woman was barbaric and rude, and that she had married during the mourning period for her father and brother. She also felt that Xue Dingshan was not worthy of the extraordinary woman Fan Lihua, who had supernatural powers, after marrying two wives. Furthermore, she felt that Xue Dingshan's act of kneeling and begging Fan Lihua to come out of the mountains every three steps was a loss of male dignity.

My mind is in turmoil, all because I'm worried about the characters in the story.

Zhu Yuxian entered at some unknown time, leaned against the wall, and listened quietly.

Xu Dan, his throat dry from talking, paused to take a sip of tea and said, "This is a long story, I can't finish it in a short time. I have other things to do, so I'll stop here for today and come back tomorrow."

"Alright then." Li Zhu stretched and said, "Your legend is complete fabrication; not a single word of it is true."

"There's no such thing as a true legend," Xu Dan said dismissively.

"The Legend of the Azure Lotus Sword Immortal is a true story," Li Zhu said earnestly.

"Only you think that way. If it were true, his descendants wouldn't be so despicable."

Others may not know, but Xu Dan, a descendant of Li Bai, knows it all too well. He had specifically researched it because he admired Li Bai's poetry. According to historical records, Li Bai had four women in his life: his first wife, Lady Xu of Gaoyang, was the granddaughter of Xu Yushi, a prime minister during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang; his second wife, Lady Zong, was the granddaughter of Zong Chuke, another prime minister during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang. After the An Lushan Rebellion broke out, he took Lady Zong south.

When Li Bai was imprisoned due to the Li Lin Rebellion, the Zong family tried to rescue him; another woman was Liu, who lived with Li Bai, but they later separated.

The last one was a woman from Donglu who lived with Li Bai and gave birth to Li Poli.

Four women, who bore two sons and one daughter. The daughter, Li Pingyang, grew up, married, and died not long after.

Li Poli, the son of Lu Fu, has no historical record of his later whereabouts. Li Bai's eldest son, Li Boqin, never held an official position and left no famous poems. After Li Bai's death, he lived a life of farming in Dangtu.

Fan Chuanzheng, the grandson of Li Bai's friend, became an official in Dangtu.

Upon hearing that Li Bai's descendants were in the area, they searched for them and eventually found two of Li Bai's granddaughters. This was more than ten years after Li Boqin's death.

Both of them are married.

When Fan Chuanzheng found the two women, they were dressed as peasant women, but their manners and speech still retained the elegance of their ancestors. Fan Chuanzheng couldn't bear to see Li Bai's granddaughter marry a farmer and wanted to remarry her to a scholar. The two women refused, saying that the way of husband and wife is determined by fate and destiny; how could they bear to abandon them?

Fan Chuanzheng respected their wishes and exempted them from taxes and corvée labor.

Later scholars generally speculate that Li Bai's grandson died during his travels.

He may have died of illness or met with misfortune, meaning that Li Bai was very likely to have no descendants.

Of course, this is the historical record that Xu Dan was familiar with before, and it is unknown what the world of Shen Tang is like now.

"Many things are not as simple as they seem on the surface." Li Zhu sighed softly, offering no explanation, but simply waving him away. She also instructed the maid to pack up the pastries, saying they were for Xiao Que'er.

"What's so complicated about it?" Xu Dan rolled his eyes.

Li Bai participated in the rebellion, and it's already a blessing from heaven that he died naturally and his family wasn't wiped out. What more could he want?

As for his descendants choosing to farm rather than serve in government, that's understandable. After all, their involvement in the rebellion tarnished their reputation, making it impossible for them to hold high office; at best, they'd be minor officials. Furthermore, given Li Bai's illustrious reputation in the Tang Dynasty, he wasn't afraid of anything else but being exploited if he entered officialdom.

These descendants aren't like Li Bai, who could be made to die however he wanted. Such things are all over the place in history books.

After Xu Dan left, Li Zhu said to Zhu Yuxian, who was leaning against the wall, with a meaningful tone, "This legend is not bad."

"Um,"

Zhu Yuxian responded but did not speak.

Seeing her like this, Li Zhu didn't say anything. She stood up, swaying gracefully, and walked out. The legend she wrote last time had been highly praised by the Empress and her sisters. Now she had to go back immediately to write down what she had heard, lest someone else beat her to it.

Unbeknownst to her, after she left, Zhu Yuxian quickly returned to the room and did the same thing as her.

Xu Dan left Mingfeng Tower and headed towards Sansheng Study.

"Master, how's that thing I mentioned last time?" Xu Dan asked Qiu Jun as he arrived at the study.

Qiu Jun shook her head. "This is not a good idea. After all, if you take the book to read it just once, the book will be different. Some scholars with obsessive-compulsive tendencies dislike this. Let's just forget about it."

This is a polite way of saying no.

Xu Dan had no objection and cupped his hands in farewell.

But then Qiu Jun said, "However, I have some books at home. You can look at them without paying rent, but you must take good care of them. If I find any dirt on them, I won't lend them to you next time."

Xu Dan was surprised by this unexpected surprise and quickly thanked him.

"No need to thank me, I am also a book lover and I understand this feeling." Qiu Jun then led him inside.