On Dong'e Mountain lived a girl as beautiful as peach blossoms. She entered the world at fifteen, as innocent as a wild animal, and accidentally tumbled into a brothel, where she was given the name Bilu.
The scholar was infatuated with her and murmured, "Her eyes hold a tender gaze, her smile is enchanting. You admire my lovely grace. Beauty is a calamity... Bewitching, bewitching..."
Bilu understood nothing of scholarly talk. She only loved the roast chicken he gave her.
The scholar was helpless. In a chaotic age, beauty was a disaster, especially for an innocent, peerlessly beautiful girl like her. When he saw her being hauled to court and ending up in the hands of a young man from the Langya Wang clan, he could not help feeling sorry for her.
Above the courtroom hung a plaque declaring, "The mirror shines high." The young magistrate had a prestigious background, shoulder-length black hair, and a handsome, bright bearing like jade from the mountains. He was impartial and seemed intent on eradicating all injustice and evil in the world.
Swayed by Wang Chen's beauty yet wary of its danger, Bilu accidentally snapped the iron shackles around her wrist.
Wang Chen lowered his eyes, his smile free and unrestrained.
-
Mama sighed that Bilu had lucked into a good fortune. Bilu did not understand. She only knew that Wang Chen was fun to be around.
He took her to the river to fly kites, to the entertainment quarter to watch acrobats and buy snacks, gently taught her to recite poems and write, and introduced her to lots of new friends.
Bilu liked him very much, as much as she liked the roast lamb on South Gate Street, and the two chubby stone lions in front of the magistrate's office.
He taught her to write his name: "Wang Chen."
-
Wang Chen gave Bilu fine clothes and a splendid mansion, bestowed his surname on her, and allowed her to call him older brother.
Gradually, thanks to his deliberate support, Bilu gained a place for herself in the capital and its surrounding lands.
Bilu was the precious treasure in his palm, his proudest creation. Pure-hearted and beautiful, she also possessed peerless martial arts. A few softly coaxing words from him were all it took to mold her however he pleased.
But later, he finally realized that it was not his words that were beguiling. Bilu was just far too easy to coax!
One day, he sat alone until midnight before Bilu finally came home.
The girl sneaked into her room with flushed cheeks, breathtakingly beautiful, a glistening trace of moisture still on her lips.
As unaware as ever, she threw herself into his arms and lifted her lovely, alluring face to tell him how happy she had been on her outing that day: "He said I'm the person he likes most."
Could she really speak so innocently and brightly about that lover of hers?
Wang Chen still wore his warm, spring-breeze smile, but his gaze grew darker. His voice remained gentle, coaxing her as usual: "Bilu, you always listen to your older brother, don't you?"
"Tomorrow, go tell him that you only like your older brother."
"Your older brother has held you and kissed you. You like it best when your older brother kisses you."
A thick possessiveness and malice flashed through his eyes as he cruelly reached out to wipe the moisture from the girl's lips.
"But..." Bilu muttered blankly. "I like it when he kisses me, too."
-
Wang Chen had once taught Bilu what it meant to be at the ends of the earth. Now he would teach her another truth.
No matter where you go, even to the ends of the earth, your older brother will be there.
Theme: Sincere love must be repaid with sincere love.
