1. The original text of Mo Mei: In a dream, the clear river is drunk with the fragrance of ink, and the branches are thin and frosty with cold pistils. Now there is no need to ask about the white, black, and muddy colors. Let’s make the makeup of the world.
2. Translation: In my sleep, the plum blossoms on the banks of the Qingjiang River are exuding a strong fragrance, which makes people intoxicated, but the cold stamens and thin branches are enduring the biting frost. Now it's hard to tell the difference between white frost and black plum, so don't bother asking. Let's regard this as the most beautiful makeup in the world.
3. Work Appreciation: Zhu Xi’s poem about Mo Mei has extraordinary intentions and lofty sentiments. The first two sentences of the poem, "In my dream, the Qingjiang River was drunk with the fragrance of ink, and the branches with cold stamens were thin and frosty." vividly painted the image of plum blossoms with cold stamens, thin branches, as cold as frost. A stick of ink was drunk, and even in the dream, I felt the fragrance. Its power Visible and audible, the image is vivid and lifelike, expressing Mo Mei's noble sentiments and interests. Then, with a twist of the pen, he wrote three or four sentences: "No need to ask about white and black now, let's just make up for the time of the world", which directly targeted the ugly behavior of following the crowd and catering to fashion in the world. These two poems seem to be separated from Mo Mei, but in fact they are closely linked. Let's take a look. "The cold branches are thin and frosty" means that this plum branch has white flowers. Otherwise, it cannot be compared with the frost. But the white flowers are covered with ink instead, so it's impossible to tell the difference between black and white. Nowadays, no one pays attention to the monotonous plum blossoms, even if they are elegant and beautiful, so it is better to dress up in a secular way. The two sentences in this poem are similar to Li Tang's two poems: "If I had known that I would not be able to catch the eye of the times, I would have bought more rouge and painted peonies."