Thousands of li were hazy like a dream

“Thousands of li were hazy like a dream” names the emotional shape of Xiao Feng and A’Zhu’s journey: a long ride across the country that begins in the shadow of grief and gradually takes on the softness of a dream. The expression makes distance more than geography; it measures how companionship alters the experience of the road.

Meaning and Context

The phrase belongs to the account of Xiao Feng and A’Zhu travelling between Jiangnan and Xinyang, where they intend to visit Madam Ma. The route spans thousands of li, too far to complete in a day. Yet the journey’s significance lies not only in its scale: it follows the moment when the pair have opened their hearts to each other on Mount Tiantai, and their attachment now shapes how they travel and remember.

From Nightmare to Dream

At first, Xiao Feng remains consumed by indignation and grief. A’Zhu’s laughter, conversation, and nonstop witticisms gradually ease that burden. The narrative contrasts this change with their earlier haste from Yanmen Pass toward Shandong: on the return north, the scenery is expansive and charming, the horses move slowly, and the journey acquires a different emotional character.

A’Zhu does not drink well, but she makes herself drink several cups of wine with Xiao Feng to cheer him. The wine reddens her face and makes her seem sweeter to him. Such small acts of shared pleasure give the vast distance an intimate scale: the road is remembered through her company as much as through the places crossed.

The Dream Image

Looking back, Xiao Feng feels that the thousands-of-li journey had been hazy, like a long succession of dreams. Its beginning resembles a series of nightmares; toward its end, those dreams become pleasant. The image holds the contrast without erasing either side: happiness has emerged, but it follows a period of pain rather than making that pain unreal.

The expression also registers the strangeness of Xiao Feng’s altered state. Without the delightful, lovable A’Zhu beside him, he would wonder whether he were still dreaming. The road thus becomes a measure of her presence: the miles are real, but the tenderness that changes their meaning feels almost beyond belief.

Narrative Significance

The phrase gathers travel, emotional recovery, and developing love into one image. Instead of treating the journey as a bare interval between destinations, the narration gives it an inner arc, moving from nightmare toward dream as A’Zhu’s companionship relieves Xiao Feng’s grief. Its haziness suggests a memory coloured by feeling, while the explicit progression from painful to pleasant dreams keeps that tenderness grounded in the hardships that came before.