Mountain and River Pillow Chapter 30 Discussion

Even with the hiccups in translation, this is a beautifully & masterfully written story. The inescapable tragedy of the Wei family made me so upset, that despite how little time we had spent with them, I cried real tears for the gentle husband we would never get to know, & the brothers who didn't make it home to their wives & children. If this wasn't so well written, I would curse the author for being excessively cruel, but the way so many conspiring factors piled up against them really does make it feel like fate. They were so helplessly entangled in the political intrigues of a crumbling dynasty that it was no wonder that the Wei family could not escape being backstabbed & used as a scapegoat. They were too loyal to an incompetent & treacherous family.

I found it fascinating that in both lives, some things could not be changed, almost like it was the power a character's fate. The sister didn't marry Wei Jun as a substitute bride & chose another husband to escape hardship, but still ended up a wartime widow. The Wei family men still died on the battlefield, falsely accused, & Wei Yun still returned as the only surviving avenger. And Chu Yu still accompanied a man during the darkest valleys of his life as he sought to get justice for himself & his family.

Perhaps fate writes in some broad brushtrokes, and the power of humans is to fill in the blanks with whatever happiness we can. In the first life, Chu Yu chose a man who didn't know how to appreciate her & gave him her all. Her fierce loyalty, hot-blooded passion, & healthy body were all spent on warming the coldest, darkest winters of a man's life. She chose differently in her second life, but she still shows that same stubborn willingness to burn up her life for the sake of others. Hopefully, it will all be worth it this time.

In some ways, this story almost seems like a purgatory for the ex-husband, who only realized in retrospect that the most precious things are the sacrifices made for you in the dark, the single burning candle offered to you when you needed it the most. This time, he'll have to suffer & survive in the dark by himself, which as Wei Yun puts it, is possible but so much harder now that he's known the light. I can't wait to see how much he regrets.