The Deer Calls, and You Return

Zhao Wenhao wants only one thing in this life: for someone to genuinely care about him.

The son of a salt merchant, with a top scholar in his mother's family, he is thirty-nine and owns half the city's wealth. But his first wife, Lin Zhuzhi, married into the Zhao family, not him. His second concubine, Li Biyao, loves money, not him. He has turned himself into an empty house, its doors open, with no one coming in.

Until he sees those eyes on the opera stage.

Little White Deer is the leading dan actress of the Mingchun Opera Troupe, with eyes as clear as a fawn newly born in the forest. Zhao Wenhao pays two thousand silver dollars to buy her freedom and hides her in the west courtyard, naming the place “Deer Park.” He thinks he has finally found his light. But he doesn't know that Little White Deer is not untouched. Three years ago in Tianjin, a wealthy patron got her drunk and forced her down onto a sofa. She became pregnant, and the child was aborted with a bowl of medicine. Her body was damaged, and she has been unable to conceive again ever since.

She buries the secret deep inside her and would rather die than tell anyone.

But secrets only stink more when they've been buried for too long.

The Zhao family compound has three courtyards, home to three women: the first wife in the main courtyard, the second concubine in the east courtyard, and Little White Deer in the west. Each has her own thoughts and desires, and each grits her teeth and survives in this house that devours people. Caught between them, Zhao Wenhao is driven mad by his own suspicions and desires. He doesn't trust her. He believes the rumors and the filthy talk. He believes everyone but her.

Until one day, he stands outside Deer Park, staring at its half-closed door, and asks himself: Will she wait for him to open it? Will he live to hear her speak?

Deer Park, a place that cages both deer and light. When the door opens, the deer will come home.