"The exquisite dice are decorated with red beans, and the lovesickness is deep in the bones." It was made by Wen Tingyun, which means:

The red dots on the exquisitely made dice are like the most lovesickness. red beans, and go deep into my bones, expressing my longing for you deep into my bones, you know?

Excerpted from "Two Poems of Nan Ge·Newly Added Sound to Willow Branches"

The original text is as follows:

Two Poems of Nan Ge

[Tang Dynasty] Wen Tingyun

A foot of deep red is worse than Quchen, and old things are not as good as new.

The Albizia Julibrissin peach core is ultimately hateful, and there is no one else here like Xu Yuanlai.

The lamp is lit at the bottom of the well and the candle is deep, and the *** Lang Changxing does not play Go.

The exquisite dice are decorated with red beans, and I miss you deeply.

Translation

A long crimson dress has turned pale yellow over time. Since ancient times, old things have not been as flattering as new things.

You and I were supposed to be as steadfast as Albizia walnuts, but I never imagined that you already had someone else in your heart, which made me hate you after all. (Part 1)

I will light a lamp at the bottom of the well and tell you very sincerely that I can play Changxing with you, but I will not play Go with you.

The red dots on the exquisitely made dice are like the most lovesick red beans, and they go deep into my bones, expressing my love for you deep into my bones. Do you know?

Notes

①One foot of crimson: a piece of crimson silk cloth. An ancient woman's ornament; or the red scarf that a woman wore to cover her head when she got married, called "hijab". Quchen: The bacteria that grow on distiller's yeast are yellowish in color and resemble dust, so they are also used to refer to light yellow color. This means that the red silk cloth was covered with dust and turned into a dark yellow color like distiller's yeast.

②Albizia julibrissin peach stone: It is a symbol of the couple's harmony and love. Peach stone, the peach is heart-shaped, and the stone sounds like a consonant, which can be a metaphor for the eternal unity of two hearts. Huangfusong's "Bamboo Branch": "The Albizia Julibrissin peach kernels are the same for both people." The Albizia Julibrissin peach kernels have two peach kernels. The word "ren" is used as a joke for "people", and it can also be used as a metaphor for "there are two people in the heart." This takes its meaning from the latter, so it is "eventually hateful".

③Lixu: inside, inside. Xu, auxiliary word. Yang Chengzhai, Volume 15 of Luo Dajing's "Helin Jade Dew" says: "It is inherent to regard the vulgar as the elegant, but it needs to be transformed by the predecessors, so it can be inherited. ... The Tang Dynasty people's 'Li Xu', 'Ruo Ge' and the like are the same. "Yuanlai: that is, "original". People: Take the homophony of "benevolence".

④ Shenzhu: The homophonic pronunciation of "deep advice" is used here. The rhetorical technique of homophonic pun is used here to write about a woman's "deep advice" to her lover. Yi: Personal pronoun, "you".

⑤Changxing: Changxing Bureau, an ancient gambling game, was popular in the Tang Dynasty. Volume 2 of Li Zhao's "Supplement to the History of the Tang Dynasty": "Today's gambling games are most popular with Changxing. They have positions and pieces, and the pieces are fifteen yellow and black, and the number of dice is two." The name of this gambling game is used here. Pun on long journeys. Go: a traditional Chinese game. The changes are extremely complex, and the theory of chess is extremely profound. When masters play chess, a game often takes several hours, or even days, to determine the winner. The homophonic pronunciation of "Go" and "default" is used here to advise "Lang" not to miss the return date.

⑥Linglong: exquisite appearance. Dice (tóu): Bo tool, it is said to have been created by Cao Zhi of the Three Kingdoms. It was first made of jade and later evolved into bone. It is also called a dice because of the coloring of its dots. It is a small cube with six sides engraved with inscriptions from There are different numbers of dots from one to six, one and four dots are colored red, and the remaining dots are colored black. The red dots on the dice are known as the red beans of lovesickness.

⑦ "Bone into the Bone" sentence: Use the red dots on the bone dice to penetrate deep into the bones to metaphorize the lovesickness that penetrates into the bones. "Bone to the bone" is a pun.