Book 3 Chapter 1
Origin of the Chapter's Titles[]
The title 东风恶,欢情薄 is from the poem Phoenix Hairpin (釵頭鳳), also known as Phoenix Pin and Chai Tou Feng, authored Lu You, a prominent poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, when he met his first love and ex-wife by chance after eight years at a garden.
东风恶,欢情薄 can be translated as:
- But the unkind east winds blew, Swept our affection into cold.[1]
- Biting east wind, happiness thin[2]
- Wicked custom, short-lived joy[3]
Context of the line in its passage:
Your beautiful soft hands,
And my sealed yellow wine,
Spring painted willow green, shaded all the town walls.
But the unkind east winds blew,
Swept our affection into cold.
A chest full sorrow chained me,
How many years separate grief?
Mistake! Mistake! Mistake![4]