The second year of the Northern Wei Jingming, 501 AD.
It was supposed to be a bright spring afternoon, and the Jiangnan poet Lu Kai was strolling around the courtyard, and the plum blossoms on the branches were blooming just right. At this time, the messenger happened to pass by, and Lu Kai saw the beckoning to stop the messenger.
The messenger asked, "Lord Lu, do you have a letter to send?" Lu Kai pondered for a moment, then folded a piece of plum blossom above his head and handed it to the messenger. The messenger hesitated, and Lu Kai said, "Wait, I'll write two more poems, and you'll send them to Chang'an."
Lu Kai returned to the study, looked at the plum blossoms blooming outside the window, burst with inspiration, and after a little deep groaning, he wrote down the masterpiece:
Fold the flowers and send them to the Longtou people. Gangnam has nothing, talk about giving a branch of spring.
The messenger took Lu Kai's poem, put it in his envelope without thinking, and hurriedly said goodbye. After the messenger had gone far, Lu Kai returned to his senses and murmured, "Done, done."
Lu Kai, Zi Zhijun, Xianbei people. His grandfather Lu Qian was a great general during the Northern Wei Dynasty, and his father and brother were also imperial court officials, and he became a close attendant of the emperor at the age of 15.
Lu Kai is loyal and honest, just and upright, and has held important positions for decades. Later, he served as the Taishou of Zhengping for seven years, and was known as a "good official", that is, a virtuous official.
Lu Kai had a close friendship with Fan Ye, a famous historian and writer of the Southern Dynasty, and often exchanged letters. Although one was in the northern country and the other in the southern dynasty at that time, and the southern and northern dynasties were still in a state of confrontation at that time, it did not affect the feelings of the two at all.
The 20-word poem just written on the top, and folding a plum blossom, let the messenger send it, it is for his friend Fan Ye. Hence the name of this poem is also called "Gift to Fan Ye".
Although this poem is only 20 words short, it is like a clear spring, sweet and refreshing. Fresh and elegant, small to see the big, with a plum to express the inexhaustible friendship, very rare. It has been passed down for more than a thousand years, and it is still very moving.
After Fan Ye opened the letter, he saw a plum blossom lying inside, accompanied by a poem. After Fan Ye read it, his thoughts were difficult to calm down, and he thought of his former friends in the distance, which was also deeply affectionate. When he saw "Jiangnan has nothing, talk about giving a branch of spring", Fan Ye was deeply moved.
Jiangnan is a rich land with all its resources, but in Lu Kai's eyes, there is no value, perhaps only the brilliant spring sun and the blooming plum blossoms are the most luxurious and expensive. He wanted to give his friend too many things, but they were separated by thousands of mountains and rivers. Then send "a plum", this small plum, not only a souvenir, but also a strong Jiangnan spring light sharing feelings.
At this point, Fan Ye was also touched by Lu Kai's spirit of innocence, loyalty and patriotism, and hope for the early reunification of the motherland, and burst into tears. According to the literature, after this incident came out, it was praised by the literati of the north and the south. Later generations also used "a branch of spring" as a synonym for plum blossoms, and also often used as an allusion to Wing Mei and Farewell Acacia, and became a word brand name.
In fact, china has not lacked such poetic gifts since ancient times. Liu Xiang of the Han Dynasty recorded in the "Saying Garden" that during the Warring States period, the emissaries of the Yue Kingdom saw the King of Liang and brought a plum blossom to give to him.
However, Han Zi, a courtier of king Liang, believed that it was contempt to give a plum to the king of a country. Later, under zhufa's clever words and good arguments, the king of Liang personally received Zhufa. Flowers are beautiful, folded flowers, meaning beautiful, perhaps the deepest thoughts in the depths of the soul.
In the Tang and Song dynasties, the literati and inkers liked to fold willows to bid farewell, and such a taste must have been influenced by "a plum". "Willow" has the meaning of "staying", and at the time of farewell, the friendship is more profound and cherished.
Li Bai's poem "In this nocturne, smell the folded willows, who can't afford the old garden"; Bai Juyi's poems: "For the near capital gate to send more farewell, the long strips are folded to reduce the spring wind"; Yang Juyuan's poem "The waterside willows are dusty, and immediately annoy the king to fold a branch", which expresses such emotions.
In addition, according to the "Records of Jingzhou" of Song Shenghong of the Southern Dynasty quoted in the Taiping Imperial Records, Lu Kai was a northerner at that time and an official in Northern Wei, and Chang'an belonged to Northern Wei at that time. Fan Ye is from Jiangnan, so it is very likely that this poem was not written by Lu Kai to Fan Ye, but by Fan Ye to Lu Kai.
At the same time, some scholars have verified that Lu Kai and Fan Ye of the Northern Wei Dynasty are different in generation and far apart, and perhaps there was another person named Lu Kai in the Southern Dynasty at that time, who gave a poem to someone surnamed Fan, which is not known.
Some scholars believe that this poem should have been written in the Song Dynasty, but there were errors in the later circulation, resulting in today's cognition.
Nowadays, we do not investigate the twists and turns behind this poem, but the sincerity and romance revealed by this short 20 words alone are the eternity that lingers in our hearts!