Bu Bu Jing Xin Deleted Scene 2: Song of Comfort

Pretext: Ruoxi and Fourth prince got in a fight over Eight prince’s punishment, and she left to stay with Yutan in anger. Fourth later sent for her back but her anger had yet to dissipate. To comfort her, Fourth began to sing. This is the same scene as the one pictured above, except in the drama, they cut out the singing part. Note: I would read scene 1 first.

Scene 2: Song of Comfort

Yinzhen put his arms around me and gently leaned me against the pillow, one hand wiping away my tears. I laid in his embrace, crying even harder.

He let me cried for a bit, before saying soothingly, “Alright. If you keep crying, it won’t be good for your health.”

My tears refused to stop falling.

He sighed, “Good Ruoxi, good Xi’er [1], listen to me. Don’t cry anymore,” he saw that I paid him no heed and grudgingly said, “It’s my first time comforting someone, but it looks like the more I comfort, the more the other person hurts. How about this? If you stop crying, I’ll do the thing that you asked me to but I haven’t agreed.”

I stubbornly replied, “Who needs it?”

He was silent for a while before starting to sing.

[2]“When first upon my face my lord’s eye glanced,
For me auspicious names he straight advanced
Denoting that in me Heaven's marks divine
Should with the virtues of the earth combine.
With lavished innate qualities indued,
By art and skill my talents I renewed;
Angelic herbs and sweet selineas too,
And orchids late that by the water grew,
I wove for ornament; till creeping Time,
Like water flowing, stole away my prime.
Magnolias of the glade I plucked at dawn,
At eve beside the stream took winter-thorn.
Without delay the sun and moon sped fast,
In swift succession spring and autumn passed;
The fallen flowers lay scattered on the ground,
The dusk might fall before my dream was found.
Had I not loved my prime and spurned the vile,
Why should I not have changed my former style?
My chariot drawn by steeds of race divine
I urged; to guide the king my sole design”

I had stopped crying, and, with my head against his shoulder, was listening intently when he suddenly stopped.

“Why did you stop?” I asked

He looked at me, “My singing isn’t that bad, right?”

I smiled but didn’t answered. He nudged me.

“Tell me honestly.”

I cocked my head, “From now on, if you want to punish any court official but don’t know how, you can just make him stay and listen to you sing.”

He was flabbergasted for a bit before poking me gently and laughing, “You can’t even save me a tiniest shred of dignity.I saw you listening so intently and thought that, after so many years of not singing, I have improved. If I was so bad, why didn’t you cover your ears and instead listened so earnestly?”

I recited slowly, “Long did I sigh and wipe away my tears. To see my people bowed by grieves and fears. The faction for illicit pleasure longed; Dreadful their way where hidden perils thronged. Danger against myself could not appall, But feared I lest my sovereign’s scepter fall."

(Some historical stuff skipped)

In the dark, there was only his eyes staring at mine. After a while, he asked,

“Don’t you hate reading those kind of ancient texts the most? Why did you memorize “Li Sao?””

I looked at him, “You like magnolias so much. Even your gifts are carved in the shape of magnolias. I had to be curious of the reason.”

“When did you memorize it?'” he asked

I smiled and said, “I’m not telling you. If I tell you, you’ll get arrogant!”

-End-

[1] In ancient China, “-er” was usually attached to the last character of a person’s name as an expression of affection.

[2] Li Sao (or The Lament) by Qu Yuan, translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang

I thought this was one of the cutest OTP scene in the book. But Wu Qi Long is a singer in real life, so maybe that’s why they cut this scene out. Which scene should I do next? The one with 8th? 13th? 14th?