Record of Places Outside the Tributaries

After parting at the Pu River, I found no writings of his to commemorate our bond. What worried me was that he was solely focused on composing music in the qingzhi a clear, high-pitched musical mode and qingjiao a clear, melancholic musical mode scales. I read them, and it was as I expected. In the desolate rain of spring, I read in the study, and when I reached the accounts of his private conversations, I could not help but—

Those who are deep in emotion exist in this world, yet...

He blocked me, tossing the lyrics back to me and saying, "You do not understand how to compose lyrics, so just look at them as simple prose." I replied, "Yes, yes." Meaning, "No, no." He alone believes that the universe has laws of rhythm and that the art of lyric composition was created for this. The Mo Ji a lost or obscure text on aesthetics says, "To draw a bow taut without ever relaxing is something even the legendary kings Wen and Wu could not do; to relax without ever drawing taut is something they could not achieve." This is Xue Ying a personal name or pseudonym.