Fanfiction: Fish in the Pond

This story follows the romance between Zhang Xiaoyu, aide to Zhang Dafu, and Chi Yao, a young lady from Beiping.

Synopsis

This is a derivative fanfiction based on the Nine Gates. The characters are reimagined, and the plot is not part of the original work.

In the autumn of 1935, Chi Yao, the daughter of a Beiping aristocrat, traveled south to Changsha to visit her close friend Huo Jinnian. During a rainstorm at the train station, she met Zhang Xiaoyu, the Buddha Lord's aide. He wore half a black mask and a crisp military uniform. His features were cold and aloof, yet he left a fish in her heart that would never swim away.

Zhang Xiaoyu was saved by Zhang Qishan from the Zhang clan's ironclad rule against traitors. The word “traitor” was branded on his right cheek, and his left cheek was scarred by burns. He regarded the Buddha Lord as his faith and never dared ask anything for himself. But Chi Yao was bright and stubborn, and she gradually made her way into his tightly closed world. She brought him meals, waited for him to return from missions, and kissed the tattoo on his face, showing him that someone in this world could love him for no other reason than that he was Zhang Xiaoyu.

From a brief, unforgettable glance in the rain to fingers intertwined beneath a stone bridge, from furtive jealousy to a kiss in the moonlight, from the Buddha Lord's blessing of their marriage to the silver fish ring on Chi Yao's left ring finger, their love took root and blossomed. Yet storms were gathering over the Nine Gates, and as the Buddha Lord's right-hand man, Zhang Xiaoyu was destined to be caught up in them. Knowing the road ahead was dangerous, Chi Yao still held his hand firmly and said she would stay with him for the rest of her life.

This is a love affair like a home invasion, and a fish trapped in a pond, desperately swimming toward freedom. Xiaoyu will always have to live in a pond, and her pond is where he belongs.