Marissa Long

“I put my arm around her shoulders and hugged her. "Verdancy, my dear, Shih-niang's got something to tell you; I hope you'll listen. It's not easy to be the wife of Flying Warrior, you know. Twenty-four long hours a day your heart is trailing up there after him. You can gaze at the sky, and look and look, until your eyes run with blood, but your men up there won't even know. They're just like so many iron birds - one moment they fly to the east, the next moment they fly to the west; you just can't catch them. Since you're married into our Village, Verdancy, please don't mind if I speak frankly to you: you've just got to harden your heart in order to endure the storm and stress that is to come.”
― Pai Hsien-yung, Taipei People

“When I walked out into the garden, I was stunned to see those hundred or so azaleas, one mound piled on another mound, one wave churning up another wave, all exploding in riotous bloom as if a chestful of fresh blood suddenly had shot forth from an unstanchable wound and sprayed the whole garden, leaving marks and stains everywhere, blood-red. I had never seen azaleas bloom with such abandon, and so angrily.”
― Pai Hsien-yung, Taipei People

“The Brocade River carries springtide splendor
to Heaven as to Earth;
Above Jade Mountain the floating clouds
transform the ancient to the present hour.”
― Pai Hsien-yung, Taipei People

“Verdancy, you mustn't let yourself waste away like this and think you're doing it for Kuo Chen. If Kuo Chen is there and knows about it, he won't be able to rest in peace."

Verdancy listened to me; all of a sudden she sat up, shaking she nodded at me and laughed coldly.

"What does he know? He fell and his body was dashed to pieces; how can he feel now? So much the better for him: bang and he's no more - I died, too, but I can still feel."

As she spoke, her face was distorted, half crying and half laughing, a terrible sight.”
― Pai Hsien-yung, Taipei People