Coda

Grandson ∙ Lu Ji 陆机

When I was born, Grandfather had been gone for sixteen years. Grandfather never knew his grandsons, but I always felt that I knew him. For Grandfather was omnipresent in our ancestral home in Huating: in the memories that Father and Grandmother recounted to us; in the way Father, despite being a general, always seemed more like a scholar whenever he was at home, reading the Classics to us; in Grandmother's boundless energy in caring for her grandchildren. It seemed to me that Grandmother was like a luxuriant plant, its leaves ever glistening with a layer of fresh dew. When I asked Father about it, he explained, 'To your grandmother, your grandfather has never left her side.'

Once, sitting with Grandmother by the lake watching the cranes, I asked her if she thought she would encounter Grandfather in their next lifetime and if they would be wedded again.

'If there is a next lifetime, I would rather not be his wife,' Grandmother replied. Seeing my bewilderment, she continued, 'If your grandfather were to be reborn as a man, he would devote his life in service of the country again, even if it meant dying dolorously once more. One lifetime of such anguish is enough. If there is indeed a next life, let the two of us be reborn as cranes of Huating, free to soar over the picturesque shores of the Southland forevermore.'

On his deathbed, Father said to me, 'Ji'er, you're the most literarily talented of my children. In future, you'll be the scholar and poet that your father and grandfather could not be.'

When it was evident that the fall of Eastern Wu was imminent, Second Brother took me aside and said, 'Grandfather was the eldest child; Father was the eldest surviving child[1]—they had no choice but to forgo their dreams of being scholars for the sake of the kingdom. But we are six brothers; there is no reason for us all to be men of arms. You and Sixth Brother[2] were always the most gifted of us; promise me that whatever happens, the two of you will survive and become great scholars.'

For ten years, Shilong and I devoted ourselves to scholarship, poetry, and the study of Confucian and Taoist thought at our home in Huating. When we emerged from our solitary studies and our poetry was the rage of all Luoyang, we sat in a teahouse, quietly sipping tea, and thought to ourselves, Grandfather, we have achieved your dream.

When our patron Zhang Maoxian read my Rhapsody on Literature, he pronounced, 'Shiheng, this work will make you immortal. In future, people will write poems about the two Lu brothers.' I replied, 'It is enough if people remember that Grandfather had two grandsons who achieved his dream.'

As Wu has faded, so someday shall Jin. And then there will be no more golden axes, nor welcomes by emperors[3]. All that shall be left will be a page in the history books, some poems and the cranes at Huating[4].

Footnotes:

[1] According to the genealogy of the Lu clan, Lu Xun had four sons.

[2] According to the genealogy of the Lu clan, Lu Kang had nine sons, three of whom died young. Here 'Sixth Brother' refers to Lu Yun, the sixth of the nine sons and the fifth-eldest of those who survived to maturity.

[3] As recorded in Pei Songzhi's annotations to Lu Xun's biography in Records of the Three Kingdoms, 'Lu Ji wrote in Inscription to the Prime Minister of Wu Lu Xun: The Wei Commander-in-Chief Cao Xiu invaded our northern borders. Lu Xun was awarded the imperial golden axe and put in command of all six armies and the imperial guard, to act temporarily on the Emperor's behalf. The Lord [Sun Quan] held the whip and personally drove the carriage for him, and all subjects knelt at his approach.' This is a reference to the inscription.

[4] In 303, Sima Ying appointed Lu Ji as Commander-in-Chief of the vanguard in an expedition against Sima Yi, Prince of Changsha. Because of the treachery of another general who refused to support Lu Ji in a key battle, Lu Ji's army was decisively routed; the corpses were piled so thickly that they blocked the current in the river. Accused falsely by political enemies of treason, Lu Ji was executed along with his two sons and brother Lu Yun. It is said that the night before his death, Lu Ji dreamt that he was confined in a carriage draped with black curtains, from which he could not escape. His last words were said to be, 'Would that I might hear once more the cry of the cranes at Huating! Will I get to do so?' Since then, cranes have been a byword for Huating.