When does Qingtian have the moon? I stopped drinking today to ask.

People cannot climb the moon, but the moon follows them.

Bright as a flying mirror, facing the Dan Que, the green smoke fades away and shines brightly.

But seeing the night come from the sea, I would rather know if it’s in the clouds.

White rabbits pounding medicine, autumn brings spring again. Who does Chang’e live alone with?

Today’s people do not see the ancient moon, but this month once shone on the ancients.

Both ancient and modern people, like flowing water, look at the bright moon in the same way.

May the moonlight shine on the golden bottle when the song is paired with wine.

The nights in Jiangnan are always shrouded in a misty veil like mist. Amidst the white walls and black tiles, a crescent moon quietly climbs up the willow branches, its clear radiance spreading out like silk, soaking the sound of footsteps in the bluestone alley soft. I looked at the Jiangnan woman dressing up in front of the mirror in the window of Linhe Pavilion, and suddenly understood that the star called “Taiyin” in Ziwei Doushu was so lively and fragrant.

She picked up the mother of pearl comb and painted Emei in front of the mirror. The reflection in the mirror overlaps with the new moon outside the window, as if a fairy from the Moon Palace is in the mortal realm. The daughter’s home, nurtured by the soil and water of Jiangnan, has a delicate and meticulous facial features: her eyes flow like the shattered stars of Xizi Lake, her nose is delicate yet warm, and her lips naturally have a sweet taste like freshly peeled lotus seeds. This perfectly fits the description given by Ziwei Doushu to the person sitting in the Tai Yin constellation – “with clear eyebrows and delicate eyes, and a soft and graceful demeanor”, even the hair is soaked in the silver glow of moonlight.

After finishing her makeup, she lightly opened the Xuan window and saw a painting boat moored at the riverbank. The boatwoman rowed open the emerald colored river, startling the white egrets perched on the shore. She looked at the white brush passing over the moon wheel and suddenly remembered what the fortune teller had said about “Tai Yin Master Jing”. Isn’t this the posture that Jiangnan’s daughter family is best at? They are like ink wash on rice paper, seemingly light, but hiding all kinds of emotions in the blank space. Ziwei Doushu said that Tai Yin’s emotions were delicate, and at this moment, I realized that this delicacy was originally shattered by moonlight, scattered in the soft tone of Wu Nong’s language, and fell into the rhythm of lightly moving lotus steps.

As the night deepens, the tea house emits the fragrance of Bi Luo Chun. She sat alone in a corner, watching the moonlight float and sink in the tea cup. Ziwei Doushu said that Taiyin “transforms qi into wealth”, and Jiangnan people know best how to turn moonlight into silver coins. They carefully calculate their daily necessities, but are willing to use their savings from the whole year to exchange for a cloud brocade trimmed garment. This contradiction is similar to the characteristic of the “night born main star” of the Taiyin star – both guarding the stability of the farmland and yearning for the tranquility of the moonlight.

Amidst the sound, she stood up and went home. When passing by the stone bridge, I saw a neighboring woman holding a baby and humming a lullaby. The moonlight melted their silhouettes into warm jade. The symbol of Taiyin in Ziwei Doushu Li symbolizes the mother and wife’s lodging. At this moment, I realize the tenderness in the bones of Jiangnan women, which was originally passed down from generation to generation as moonlight. They weave the beauty of the family with gentleness, guarding the perfection of human relationships with delicacy, just like the Taiyin Star guarding the Tianzhai Palace in the destiny chart.

Turning around the alley, I suddenly saw a flower seller carrying a basket full of jasmine. Under the moonlight, those white jade like flower buds are quietly blooming. A woman from Jiangnan picked flowers and put her hair on her temples, and in an instant, even the moonlight dimmed a bit. Ziwei Doushu said, ‘When Taiyin enters the temple, it brings good fortune.’ At this moment, the flowers and people complement each other, and only then do we realize that the so-called ‘good fortune’ is actually the calm and composed way of living life into poetry and painting. They comprehend the balance of yin and yang in the province of morning and evening, and break through the path of profit and loss in the changing seasons, becoming the most vivid annotation in Ziwei Doushu.

It’s late at night, and the last sound of the flute sinks to the bottom of the river. She extinguished the candle, but left half the window with moonlight. Ziwei Doushu said that Taiyin was “restrained”, but Jiangnan women absorbed moonlight into their bones and blood. When the morning light fades, they will still carry bamboo baskets to the market, turning moonlight into hollow carvings on silver hairpins and embroidering starlight into the entwined lotus patterns on brocade. The daughter’s home nurtured by this soil and water has finally mastered the mystery of the Taiyin Star – using softness to overcome hardness and stillness to turn the stars and moon in the sky into fireworks on earth.

Wen/Xingchen Mountain People