The Magpie’s Entreaty

Name: The Magpie’s Entreaty
Author: Nanzhi Qingwu

辞鹊引

by Nanzhi Qingwu (南枝青梧)

Status: Ongoing
Length: 239k Words
Genre: Two Female Leads
Updated: 1mo ago
Source: Fanqie

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Synopsis

[Shen Qingci]

Born into a family of scholars, she devoured books from an early age, yet her temperament was as cold as frost.

Her father named her “Qingci” after the Han dynasty poet Chen Lin’s phrase, “elegant words and exquisite verses, radiant and brilliant,” hoping she would speak with grace and never follow the vulgar ways of the world.

He never expected the name to become a prophecy:

“Ci” means to take one’s leave.

Entering the palace as a consort was no honor to her. It was a cage. She had no wish to serve the emperor or waste her life in this gilded prison. Her soul had already taken its leave of the mortal world.

Cold as frost, departed from the mortal world: her name was meant to mean leaving.

[Gu Mingque]

The legitimate daughter of General Gu, she was cherished from childhood, the apple of her father’s eye.

On the day she was born, a magpie landed in the courtyard’s parasol tree and called three times, refusing to leave. Her father took it as an auspicious sign and named her “Mingque,” hoping she would be as cheerful and bright as a magpie, and blessed with good fortune all her life.

She certainly lived up to her name: she was like a little magpie, chattering nonstop. She loved climbing trees, swinging on swings, and sneaking out of the manor to visit the night markets.

Serving Shen Qingci in the emperor’s bed was no humiliation to her. It was an “adventure in the palace.”

Her name concealed her fate: she was never meant to be caught up in the deep palace, yet she followed a single call and barged in, her destiny forever straying from the branch she had been born to.

Lively as a sparrow, calling into the mortal world: her name was meant to mean drawing near.

One wanted to escape, the other wanted to enter.

One took her leave, the other called out.

Their names foretold the crossed fates and tangled lives that awaited them.

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119Chapters

2Reads

151Reads · all time

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