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In the closing years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a minor official of Lujiang prefecture, by the name of Jiao Zhongqing, takes to wife LiuLanzhi, a girl from the market town of Yuanyang. It is a perfect love match, and the two would have lived happily ever after if it had not been for the jealousy of Jiao Zhongqing's mother. Lady Jiao forces her daughter-in-law to slave away at the loom morning, noon and night, constantly complaining about what she regarded as her poor work. Eventually, the antagonism between them comes to a head, and Lady Jiao sends Lanzhi back to her home. Despite her son's pleading, Lady Jiao insists that the girl is willful, and besides she has failed to produce a grandchild for her, and so the marriage must be annulled. Jiao Zhongqing and Liu Lanzhi make a secret pact that neither of them will remarry, and that before long they will find a way to renew their bliss. In the meantime, Lanzhi is to wait patiently at home. One day, as Lanzhi is playing the konghou, the third son of the magistrate of Juchao County, Wang Ruiqi, happens to be passing. Hearing the sweet tune, Wang makes inquiries as to the player, and learns that she is a young girl who has been expelled from her bridal home. On his way to Yuanyang to ask for Lanzhi's hand in marriage, Wang is waylaid by robbers, and returns to nurse his injuries. Meanwhile, Commander Xu of Lujiang Prefecture has also heard about Lanzhi, and sends to Yuanyang to ask that she be betrothed to his son. Against her will, Lanzhi is married off to the simpleton son of the commander. Lanzhi decides that only by committing suicide can she express her faithfulness to Jiao Zhongqing. Now that Lanzhi has been married off to the commander's son, Lady Jiao sees that the way is clear to get her son to marry Qin Luofu, who is a dear friend of Lanzhi. But Jiao Zhongqing can never love anyone but Lanzhi, and refuses to countenance the match. On the night of her wedding to the commander's son, Lanzhi drowns herself in a nearby lake. When the tragic news is brought to him, the distraught Jiao Zhongqing hangs himself. The two lovers sacrifice their lives to be together for ever at the Yellow Springs.
Table of Contents
第一章 少女兰芝未嫁时
Chapter One The Maiden Lanzhi
第二章 新婚燕尔蒙愁思
Chapter Two A Gloomy Newlywed
第三章 秦家罗敷怀春情
Chapter Three Luofu Awakens to Love
第四章 母子反目生婚变
Chapter Four A Mother-Son Quarrel Breaks Up a Marriage
第五章 兰芝含悲辞焦母
Chapter Five Lanzhi Bids a Grim Farewell to Lady Jiao
第六章 瑞琪山坳遭劫难
Chapter Six Waylaid by Robbers
第七章 太守逼嫁鸳鸯集
Chapter Seven Commander Xu Forces Lanzhi to Wed His Son
第八章 两家合葬华山旁
Chapter Eight Buried Together at the Foot of Mount Hua
Chinese Ancient Love Stories: The Peacock Flies Southeast (Chinese-English)
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