Two thousand years of obsessions, but in exchange for many missed opportunities in love.
If ultimately we have no chance to be together, so why let us meet each other in this life, a glance a million years?
In the middle of a foggy dream, one walks through whose shadow, destroys whose yearning, and buries whose current life and past life?
“Emperor (Di) and concubine (Ji) who are floating ups and downs in the dream land, what do you really want?”
“All I seek in this lifetime, is merely that he can see my shadow in his eyes.”
There is a saying that the feeling is deep but the fate is shallow. She is the one with deep feeling but her fate with Dong Hua is shallow.
There is a word called unfortunate. She is unfortunate so she met him. He is also unfortunate so he missed her.
“He is very good. Just that he and I have no fate to be together.”
“So what if the Mandate of Heaven says we are destinated to be together or not destinated to be together? As the King, I have never fear the Mandate of Heaven and also do not need any handout from the Mandate of Heaven.”
How does the Mandate of Heaven determine our predestined relationship? One person’s doubt, everyone get caught in a vortex.
[Ebook] [Eng Translation] [Eng – Chapter 18] [Tam sinh tam thế, Chẩm thượng thư quyển hạ]
Yes, the book which everyone has been waiting for has been released on Friday. I didn’t have time to read it and also do not plan to read it as I will be waiting for the audiobook and following hamster’s english translation.
If I am not mistaken, the ending is a happy one but you’ve to suffer some angsts and Tang Qi’s wordiness before reaching the end. She is following the style & structure of 3W3L10MPB by having many soy sauce (irrelevant characters and events) which are not fully developed or explained. In addition the ending is rushed so it is widely believed she’ll write an epilogue later.
All in all, the reviews for the book are still pretty good. Since we’ve invested so much time and effort into reading the story and grow to love the characters very much, we’ll definitely want to follow it thru to its very end. It’ll be greatly appreciated if any kind soul who can read Chinese and is going to read it, to write us an English summary. Otherwise we’ll just wait patiently for hamster’s weekly translation.
Can’t wait to read it. 🙂 But I hate reading side characters that are not properly developed.
Are you going to translate more cute translation of Little Dough? 🙂
Hey, hey, pls read it & post a summary here:) I dun think there is anything on little dough. This is Pillow Book !!!! I read got a few new characters. I think book 2 doesn’t even have much on my xiao yan:(
(previously known as serenedipity)
Thank you thank you Peanuts!!! Will check this out when I have time 🙂 🙂
Well, I sort of used google translate to muddle through the ebook without waiting for hamster’s English translation or the audiobook. Using google translate, I listened to the first few chapters and then skipped all the way to the last two chapters. So…if anyone wants spoilers, let me know, but I can’t guarantee that my spoilers are accurate, since I can’t understand much Mandarin myself.
It is definitely happy! However, it does leave plot developments for the other books! I felt that DongHua truly redeemed himself by the end of the book <3
I think I will be too long-winded to be able to do a proper summary. But I'm translating Chapter 18 of Book 2 – which in my opinion, is the best and most romantic:
http://onesecondspring.blogspot.sg/2013/12/three-lives-three-worlds-pillow-book.html
decembi, I woke up this morning to your translation. Made my day!
What I look forward to most in Book 2 is for Dong Hua to suffer some pain(the more the merrier for me of course). But I pretty much expect it wouldn’t be balanced at all with what Feng Jiu went through, but more or less is still satisfying.
Hey Chancy, glad you enjoyed it! I think some fans did not like it but I loved the ending! Dong Hua definitely got his ass kicked!
Part 2 of chapter 18 <3:
http://onesecondspring.blogspot.sg/2013/12/three-lives-three-worlds-pillow-book_5.html
Thank you very much Mel for sharing the spoilers with me. I want to share this with everyone but pls take it with a grain of salt as Mel’s Mandarin is just average, lol. Decembi, maybe you can check if what Mel wrote is accurate:)
I couldn’t wait around for hamster’s translation any longer and used google translate to listen to parts of Book Two of Pillow Book. I didn’t listen to the entire story, since google translate is so boring and monotonic to listen to. Plus, I found the dream part of Book Two really boring, so I listened to a few chapters at the beginning and then skipped to the last 2-3 chapters at the end.
Beware of spoilers! Also, beware of inaccurate spoilers, since my Mandarin skills are only so-so, and I am guessing what occurred.
Fengjiu, injured by her quest to obtain the Saha fruit, woke up in Aranya’s dream with retrograde memory loss. She could not remember anything about her friendship with Xiao Yan, her time in Fanyin Valley, and her quest to steal the Saha fruit. In addition, she could not remember that Donghua had switched out the Saha fruit with a basket of peaches as the prize. Relieved the she could not remember that he had switched out the Saha fruit, Donghua saw this as a reprieve. Now that he realized he was in love with her, he did not wish for Fengjiu to be angry with him. When FJ questioned where they were and why DH was beside her, he lied to her and told her that they were already married and that Xiao Yan had once again trapped them inside the Wicked Lotus Sphere. FJ asked DH why she would suddenly forgive him for mistreating her when she was his pet fox. She reasoned that she would not have so easily agreed to marry him. DH explained that he had knelt in front of her and begged for her forgiveness and so she had agreed. FJ retorted that he must have done something else besides kneeling or else she would not have forgiven him. DH asked what it would take for her to forgive him. FJ answered that if he split his heart in half and gave one half to her, then she would finally forgive him.
And here comes the unclear part, since I couldn’t understand Mandarin very well….
Apparently, FJ’s soul needed to recuperate elsewhere while her body healed. (I’m not sure I understood this correctly.) So somehow, FJ’s soul ended up in Aranya’s body, and she ended up playing Aranya’s role in the dream. DH took the place of Aranya’s husband, deliberately not telling FJ that he was really DH. I think DH still had silver hair as Aranya’s husband and clearly still looked like himself. Don’t ask me why FJ didn’t recognize him as DH but instead believed he was Aranya’s husband, because that part of the story was really confusing for me. Anyway, FJ started falling in love with Aranya’s husband (who was really DH, but she didn’t know). The story dragged on and on with FJ and DH trapped in the dream state, complete with two wicked and annoying sisters and another hot and handsome fellow, whom DH was jealous of because he believed FJ preferred the other guy. I am not sure of the details because I just couldn’t understand the language that well. I got so frustrated by the dream tangent that the story had taken that I simply skipped to the end.
I will stop here, unless you want ending spoilers. Let’s just say I cried buckets at the end, and I am still sobbing when I think of the ending.
I hesitate to evaluate this book, since I have not read the entire story, so I feel that judging it by the few chapters I have read so far is unfair. However, from the few chapters I have gleaned, I am sorely disappointed, especially since I feel that Book One was so much more enjoyable. First, the digression into Aranya’s dream was totally unnecessary. Tang7 should have gotten FJ and DH out of that dream state in no more than 2-3 chapters and continued on with the current, non-dream story. Instead, the dream state took up at least two thirds of Book Two! It was superfluous and merely filler material. Second, I expected Ye Qingti to play a bigger role in fighting for FJ’s affections, given all the hints Tang7 kept dropping in Book One (FJ treasuring the citrine bracelet he gave her, FJ risking her life to get the Saha fruit to revive him, etc). Instead, once he officially entered into the story, he was like an afterthought. Eh… Thumbs up for Book One, and thumbs down for Book Two so far, except for the ending chapters, which were moving enough to make me cry buckets.
Also….more spoiler ahead….more spoiler ahead…do not read if you don’t want a big spoiler….
A big thumbs UP for the adorable Bai Gun Gun, whose appearance toward the end brightened up the entire story. His hair was just as silver as his papa’s, and he was just as adorable as his cousin Ah Li. 😀 My heart sobbed when little Gun Gun questioned FJ about his papa, wondering why all his friends had papas, but he didn’t.
Hey peanuts, your spoilers are accurate! I agree that when I first read the Aranya’s Dream part I was a bit impatient and wanted the story to get to the good part – Dijun and Feng Jiu awakening and figuring out their love story! But, the ending of the Aranya’s Dream part and the explanation of how it fits into Dijun and Feng Jiu’s story is brilliant! Because without Aranya’s Dream, Dijun and Feng Jiu could never be together and how the ruined destiny of Aranya and Chen (something, can’t recall his name now lol) created Dijun and Feng Jiu’s fate.
I loved the ending <3 I hope she writes an epilogue.
Pls pls dun tell me donghua died???
You can read Chinese so go & read it & tell us:P
Pm don’t worry. It is a happy ending 🙂
I read parts of it but got abit impatient and skipped some parts. Agree with Peanuts/Mel evaluation of the second part. I thought it was abit too long in the dream world and I thought we would have more insight into DH and FJ time as mortals and Ye Qing Ti’s character.
Decembi can you elaborate more on the ending of Aranya’s dream and how it Aranya and her lover is related to DH and FJ? I think I skipped that part cos I was too impatient and went to the ending chapters.
Haha…if its a happy ending I wun mind trying to read it…but if it’s a sad or bad ending..I’m staying away….. Coz I read in someone’s spoiler that bai gun gun asked how come he got no daddy…..
Hello May,
In a nutshell, Fan Yin Valley was created to purify some demonic essence and balance what was contained in some heavenly instrument/mirror (I can’t remember the exact object – but it also relates to the ending), and to balance it Dijun put a fragment of his soul/shadow into Fan Yin Valley, and this fragment became the Cheng person! And, when Feng Jiu learnt that a fragment of his soul/shadow was in Fan Yin Valley, she actually also put a fragment of her soul/shadow to repay her debt to his soul/shadow and that fragment was Aranya. So Aranya and Cheng was supposed to have one lifetime of happiness together, but because some Sea Palace prince came stumbled into the valley and became Aranya’s shifu he actually ruined their fate and Aranya and Cheng lost their one lifetime of happiness. Their story is actually quite moving and tragic. So, because Aranya and Cheng are fragments of Feng Jiu and Dijun – their one lifetime of happiness returned to them and gave them a chance to meet – as previously in the heaven books, they had no fate to ever meet and know of each other. I found that quite touching <3! Because of Feng Jiu's self sacrificial act – she moved Heavens and changed their fates!
Hey Decembi thanks so much for explaining everything! It makes much more sense now to have that dream component.
Did FJ forget that she placed a fragment of herself in the valley? Because she didn’t seem to realise anything when she found herself in Aranya’s body. (in the part of the book I read) Oh yes how did Aranya die? There was some mystery surrounding her death that I think the shifu was trying to find out. What did the shifu do to ruin Aranya and her lover’s happiness?
Pm it is a good ending for FJ and DH! I read the ending so don’t worry. But alot of trials and tribulations to get there. Once again there was a misunderstanding between FJ and DH because of the silly demon princess (can’t remember her name) so they got separated. But all’s well that ends well.
I think that FJ and DH need to go for couple counselling to communicate better with each other so that they won’t keep misunderstanding each other :p But I’m really glad that they ended up together in the end – FJ has warmth and give DH the familial love he didn’t have as a child.
I think Feng Jiu forgot about it because there didn’t seem to be a mention about it in the book. Aranya faked her suicide but actually sacrified herself in battle to save someone (I can’t remember who now). She actually died thinking Cheng never loved her (that’s the horrific tragic part!). Actually, the shifu did not do anything, just the fact that he stumbled into the world and became Aranya’s shifu so Cheng who had planned to be her protector, only silently protected her. Ah, it’s really sad.
Haha couple counselling! Yeah, if only Dijun shared his thoughts and feelings more – but I suppose that’s how the epic angst starts!
I love the ending <3
Thanks decembi for the explanation.
So that’s why the snakes protecting the fruit recognized her as Aranya. But it’s quite a confusing timeline, do you know if this Aranya lifetime was before or after the time she and DH spent as mortals?
Regarding TLTW, Ten miles of peach blossoms, I’ve read your summaries and thoughts and it’s pretty good. It’s a nice way to savour the book 🙂 I like the YH and BQ couple story abit better because it’s not as frustrating as DH and FJ although their relationship is a little more entertaining especially when DH gets jealous 🙂
Dear May,
Actually, DH never became a mortal haha! That was Tang Qi Gong Zi’s trick! DH actually went into a deep sleep to rest after using his energy to balance the magic mirror, and it was announced in the Heavenly Realms that he was going to experience human life on earth – but that was just a trick!
Thank you! That’s very kind of you. I enjoyed the book so much, I decided to summarise you as a way of ruminating on my favourite parts! I think DH and FJ is more addictive and memorable, but YH and BQ are so enjoyable to re-read cos it’s filled with so much sweetness from YH. I love it when DH gets jealous too! Haha
Ohhhh gosh no wonder there wasn’t much about the “mortal time”. But they mentioned that FJ went to the mortal world and then DH was the emperor and FJ was supposed to be his son’s wife or something like that? Can you explain more please?
Also, FJ met Ye Qing Ti when she was a mortal right? Can you elaborate more about their story together if possible?
Thanks very much 😀
Hey May,
Sorry I missed your comment!
Yup, so DH was never the emperor. From what I remember, Feng Jiu went down to try and fulfill the emperor’s wish (thinking he was a mortal version of Dong Hua) and his wife was to have true love from someone. So, Feng Jiu actually took possession of the body of one of his concubines – someone he no longer loved, but actually had real feelings for him. However, by a twist of fate in Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Thousand Miles of Peach Blossom, the emperor fell for the concubine Feng Jiu and because it is in his life to go through a love trial, Feng Jiu was forced to break the emperor’s heart and not able to fulfill his wish of having true love.
So Ye Qing Ti was one of the emperor’s officers – and Feng Jiu concubine married him later, because Feng Jiu in breaking the emperor’s heart, pretended to be a lesbian haha! Ye Qing Ti never touched Feng Jiu and somehow knew she was a goddess – he definitely loved her in his own way and sacrificed his soul for her.
Does that help? 🙂
Finally completed chapter 18!
http://onesecondspring.blogspot.sg/2013/12/three-lives-three-worlds-pillow-book_28.html
Will be happy to answer and further qns or gush abt Dong Hua <3
I’m almost done almost done. x____x. At Chapter 19.
The pacing of book 2 is definitely not as good as the first. I think Aranya’s dream took about 16 out of 21 chapters in book 2, but it only really got going at at about chapter 8 and I was marathoning from that bit.
Actually, to be fair, Aranya’s dream was very very skillfully written as a mystery (but we were just impatient to get to the good stuff). The mystery of Aranya was essentially, why did she commit suicide (the cost of committing suicide was akin to eternal damnation for her kind – her soul is destroyed). If Aranya is dead and her soul destroyed, then who is the creator of of Aranya’s Dream and what is it’s purpose. The story gets revealed layer by layer, from the perspective of many people.
I grew to really like the real Aranya (as told by her shifu’s recollections) – she is totally what FJ has the potential to grow up into. The term that is used to describe her is “shatou”; the closest translation I can think of is “cool”. In the sense that she is really not easily ruffled by other people, no matter how mean to her they are. Its not that she doesn’t know that they’re being bitches, but its just that she doesn’t give a damn about them, to an extent that she’s a little black bellied herself. Eg her shifu tells her that there is a way to save some people, but saving them would mean angering her father the king because the latter wants them gone. She replies breezily, “Ah. So doing it will also anger, His Majesty my father. Now I really must do it after all.”
The ending to Aranya’s dream gave me Hua Xu Yin flashbacks where everyone is just in utter despair.
SPOILER ALERT—–
Peanuts – DH assumed the role of Aranya’s husband (Xize) is because he initially transplanted FJ’s soul into the fetus in Princess Jue Nuo’s womb (that’s the ideal living vessel for FJ’s soul). So he needed to be in a position where he could care for JN’s health (he was asked to attend to her medically) and also in a position to ensure that no harm came to JN while carrying FJ’s soul. Of course, everything went south because FJ’s soul was somehow sucked in to Aranya’s body (because Aranya was actually a part of her soul/shadow).
He actually used a spell to make everyone in the world believe that he was Xize. Only Su Moye (Aranya’s shifu and Liansong’s buddy) knew who he was.
Decembi, can you tell me more about Dong hua? What happens after they get out of the dream? Do DH and FJ get married? please summarize a little what happens after they get out of the dream. Also if you don’t mind please share how he gets jealous lol Thanks
Actually, I don’t ever recall Dong Hua getting jealous! Hahaha.
I’ve been getting requests to summarise Chapter 19. I will post up something late March/early April to finish up about what happened at the Weapon Coronation Ceremony 🙂
Haii all,
I’ve finally made it to the party ~ I’ve just finished the first novel in the series and hated DongHua’s guts. Normally I’m into wordy, teasing characters… on top of that silver hair.. Yes, much love cus of my uh Sesshomary/Xiang Liu biases. But holy shit, I hated him so much! How could he treat FengJiu like that =.=
The characters in this novel have a lot more personality than the first. But I enjoyed the first installment with BaiQian and YeHua too (cus happy ending after reading Chang Xiang Si). It’s super cute to incorporate AhLi and previous characters to tie the two series together. So I’m at the part of Aranya’s dream right now, and it’s drifting by very very very slowly. Do you guys know how long that part is going to be?
I’m getting more used to Tang7’s writing now, it’s written very lyrically but she rambles a lot… Thus many thanks to Hamster for the translations for a more in-depth understanding of the text! <3
Peanuts ordered that I ride in here at full speed to defend her Dijun. LOL just kidding.
I re-read the first book recently (shoutout of thanks to hamster here). Actually, Dijun isn’t too bad to Fengjiu. His problem is that he never finds out everything that Fengjiu did for him until it was too late. But be it the little red fox or Fengjiu the troublemaker, he is actually quite protective.
I think Aranya’s dream takes up about 15-17 chapters of the second book.
HuiEr: Okay finee, DongHua redeemed himself by the end of the novel! I dislike their fates and their miscommunication 🙁 It seems both of them always find out about things a step too late.
Can someone explain the last chapter after their wedding to me, and when DongHua ran to FanYinGu for JiHeng? Something happened to DongHua (he got poisoned (?) and FengJiu misunderstood him since he rewrote her memory and ran off during their wedding… I pretty much just skimmed it cus it was like 4 in the morning and I needed to find out the ending = = On top of that I usually read traditional and TangQiGongZi’s takes me a few rereads to understand. It’d be awesome if someone could give me a summary :3
@AcrossTime:
I am following hamster’s translation of Pillow Book 2, and I am developing quite a interest and fondness for the real Aranya and her love story with Chenye. Can someone give out spoilers on what happens to Chenye at the end of Aranya’s dream? Does this poor man finally get to be together with his beloved Aranya? How does the dream portion of the story conclude?
Melanie – not sure if you really want to know
I’m breaking this in two spoilers, because well. The first one technically answers your question, but the true ending is below. So click at your own risk.
Check it with Hamster’s trans when she’s done! I was too busy crying so I can’t remember the last part well.
After reading the spoilers here, I must say that I’m not liking this story so much any more. I hate it when the angst is derived from misunderstandings and lack of communication. And there are sooo many misunderstandings in here. It’s so aggravating, and it makes me want to shake everyone and slap some sense into them.
Pretty much every female character in the Pillow Book aside from Fengjiu is a horrible person with no redeeming qualities. They’re all petty, spiteful, jealous harpies. It’s the typical female-antagonist archetype that’s used in almost all of the stories, and it has left a bad taste in my mouth.
Hui3r,
Thank you so much for your spoilers. I apologize for taking so long to get back to you, but I needed some time to compose myself after reading your spoiler.
Oky…so spoil me someone pls……does dh and fj get to live a happy long life with bai gun gun..or does dh die somewhere along the way? I’m superbly confused and ain’t intending to read the Chinese version…..thanks :p
Pm, read the comments above & you’ll find your answer or wait for hamster’s translation:P
Peanuts….was reading the spoilers till I got confused :0 …. Bai gun gun said he had no daddy…then dh was forced to choose between 2 paths to stabilize the mirror thing…..then fj wanna go help… M confused coz I dunno which is the sequence….so did bai gun gun come before or after the mirror thing? So did they live hea?
Why are you so impatient? Haha, I’ve not read the book yet bcos waiting for hamster to finish as well as the radio drama.
But as far as I know HEA. FJ had Gun Gun without DH due to some misunderstandings so Gun Gun said he got no daddy. But later they reconciled so go & follow hamster’s translation.
What book are you reading now? Xinn wants you to fangirl uncle in Ding Mo’s latest book with her, lol.
Hehe…..coz I’m partially following hamsters translations..but I got side tracked again and again…so just wanna know ending quick quick……if sad ending I wanna ditch……
I’m just done with the tang ling Tao book…..going to do feng qiu huang book…….
What is tang ling tao? Fenq qiu huang??? See you next year lol. It is such a long book but do write me a review. good luck bcos u need it lol.
Next winter there will still be snow…….tats the name of the book. I just posted a short short comment……
Haha…Iim also wondering if I shd go thru with it….coz it’s like 200plus chpts….but I realized the chpts are quite short….it’s got quite a few reviews tats why I tot of trying it…….hehe….I’m still keeping as few books…save the best for last :p
I felt that the first pillow book was better written. They were in the dream state for so long in this book T_T. I kept on skimming and hoping that they would be out of the dream state by the next chapter, but I kept getting disappointed.
Also I wish FJ had woken up at the end. I want a cutesy epilogue where everyone is coherent and well!
Funny you should say that – I felt the same way too and I wrote a rough sketch of a fanfiction epilogue haha. Will edit it and post it one day
Lol.. so I may be the odd one liking the dreamverse and thinking it rather outshines the main narratives -_- but I concede that it feels like a distraction from the main story instead of an integral part, even if everything ends up fitting. TQ might’ve done better taking another approach.
I will be ecstatic if you do that decembi! My undying love will go to you 🙂
I’ll probably end up reading it when I’m on break (the dreamverse part). I do like the author’s writing a lot, and I may also get a better, deeper understanding of the story (which are all +++s in the head).
Which a-hole (pardon me) said 3L3W was a ‘light, easy read’ without angstyness and stuff??!! I’m on 20.2 and I’m crying my heart out and sharpening the sword I bought at the flea market a year ago. TT TT
There was about one chapter of sweetness sandwiched by miles of sadness. Who ever lied to me, come out and let me gut you!
3L3W was certainly light-weight when it was 10 Miles of Peach Blossoms. By the time it gets to PB it has slipped down the angsty rabbit hole haha.
LOLS！ I thought the first 3L3W would be lighthearted at some point. Never got fully lighthearted, it just got more and more angsty.
Reading all your comments and how the first book degraded into so much angst, im way too afraid to read the sequel. The male lead is so slow and frustrating… Im really debating whether to read this one….
Is this book’s main focus is on feng Jiu and dong hua?? Is this book after the main book?? So we do not get to know more about the other main couple ?
Yeah, this book is mainly about Feng Jiu and Dong Hua, but Ye Hua and Bai Qian do appear once in awhile. It’s really funny to read Ah Li complain about how Ye Hua is always hogging his beloved mother.
So, was the reason why Feng Jiu didn’t recognize her own face at first and didn’t know Xize was Don’t Hua until she woke up was because being the one trapped in Aranya’s dream she only remembered her memories by names and actions in events rather than images? I read the second book and assumed thats ehat it many when she first woke inside the dream saying her life was as if it were written in a book rather than bing her own..