Reposted | Fuzhou Sisheng & Xunmeng Troupe’s “The Purple Hairpin”: A single purple hairpin, guarding a solemn promise.

On the Lantern Festival night,

The Dream-Seeking Troupe discovered a purple hairpin amidst the crowd.

Du Mengmeng was just about to pick it up when Lin Xiaochuan quickly stopped her:

“Wait—this hairpin does have an owner.”

The husband glanced over:

“And because of it, some people found each other, only to weather a major upheaval all because of a single promise.”

The top scholar, Huang, crouched nearby, staring at the purple hairpin with curiosity.

Lin Xiaochuan opened the “Fuzhou Treasures Catalogue”—

Today’s guest,

It is precisely Tang Xianzu’s “The Story of the Purple Hairpin.”

My name is “The Purple Hairpin.”

In the story, Huo Xiaoyu,

She is the daughter of Lord Huo in Tang Xianzu’s works;

Li Yi, on the other hand, studied and traveled in Chang’an,

A young scholar of considerable talent.

On the Lantern Festival night, both of them came to the street to admire the lanterns.

Amid the crowd, the purple jade swallow hairpin atop Huo Xiaoyu’s head was accidentally dropped and picked up by Li Yi.

Huo Xiaoyu had long heard of Li Yi’s renowned talent,

Li Yi, too, had developed a fondness for her.

Facing Huo Xiaoyu, who had come to reclaim her hairpin,

Li Yi did not return it immediately,

Instead, she used this hairpin to send a matchmaker to propose marriage.

A lost purple hairpin,
And so, a fated bond was forged.

Later, the two married.

But no one could have imagined that when this token of their love reappeared, it nearly became “evidence” of the very thing that would tear them apart.

After their marriage, Li Yi went to the capital to take the imperial examinations.

The powerful and the noble Grand Secretary Lu She took a fancy to Li Yi and wished to take him as her son-in-law.

Li Yi already had Huo Xiaoyu and was unwilling to consent. Consequently, Grand Censor Lu, wielding his influence, intervened to obstruct their union, causing all news of the two to gradually cease.

Li Yi was transferred to the frontier, and later, upon imperial summons, he was recalled to the capital.

Yet he was once again under the control of Grand Marshal Lu,

Unable to meet Huo Xiaoyu.

Meanwhile, Huo Xiaoyu waited and waited for Li Yi, but he still did not come.

In search of news of him, he gradually exhausted his family’s fortune,

In the end, even the purple hairpin that had sealed their love was sold off.

And, of all things, this hairpin had fallen into the hands of Grand Preceptor Lu.

He took this opportunity to make Li Yi mistakenly believe—

Huo Xiaoyu has already married someone else.

Until Yellow-Clad Traveler Appear.

Upon learning the inside story,

He managed to bring Li Yi directly before Huo Xiaoyu.

The two finally confronted each other face to face, and at last realized:

Li Yi did not change his heart,
Huo Xiaoyu did not remarry either.

The one who has always been sabotaging things is none other than Grand Preceptor Lu.

The man in the yellow robe then helped expose Grand Secretary Lu’s abuse of power to obstruct the marriage, clearing up the misunderstanding and returning the purple hairpin to Huo Xiaoyu.

From the moment they fell in love, through misunderstandings, to their reunion,
A purple hairpin wove the entire saga together.

In fact,

The story of “The Purple Hairpin” did not originate with Tang Xianzu.

It is based on the Tang dynasty chuanqi “The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu.”

The original story is a tragedy.

In the end, the original story takes a tragic turn: Huo Xiaoyu dies of love, and Li Yi is left with the reputation of being heartless and unfaithful.

In the writings of Tang Xianzu, The story has been rewritten.

He reinforced the role of Grand Tutor Lu as the obstructer,

It also made the Yellow-Clad Wanderer a true game-changer.

And so, the story that had been heading toward tragedy,

With a happy reunion ending.

And prior to “The Purple Hairpin,”

Tang Xianzu also wrote a work titled “The Purple Flute.”

He himself mentions in the preface to “The Purple Hairpin” that,

This work was “originally titled ‘The Purple Flute’,”

Later, after being revised and refined, it finally became "The Purple Hairpin" 。

The same story was not penned by Tang Xianzu just once.

More notably,

When he evaluates the characters in his own writing,

It specifically mentioned Huo Xiaoyu’s… “A lovesick fool”

With the Yellow-Clothed Traveler’s “Nameless Hero.”

These two characters, too, altered the story’s original course.

When the story was finished, Du Mengmeng turned her gaze once more to the purple hairpin.

At first, it brought Huo Xiaoyu and Li Yi together;

Later, it was used to track down people and then exploited to create misunderstandings;

Finally, it returned to Huo Xiaoyu’s hands.

Lin Xiaochuan closed the “Fuzhou Baby Directory.”

A tiny purple hairpin,
We have walked through encounters, partings, and reunions.

And what is truly moving,
It was after the controversy,

It still lives up to the original choice.