Consequently, the wish for longevity is not raw desire for endless years but a moral horizon: enough time to meet again, to celebrate often, and to keep rituals alive. In Confucian terms, it sustains kinship and friendship across appointments and borders; in the ci lyric tradition, it invites communal singing that braids private feeling with public festivity. The blessing does not erase distance; rather, it extends the thread of togetherness so that separation becomes a pause in an ongoing conversation. [...]
