With her family fallen on hard times, her grandmother advanced in years, and her husband bedridden with a chronic illness, Ning Caiwei decides to travel to the capital and take the palace painting examination in hopes of securing a stable living.
That night, she takes shelter in an abandoned temple. While studying late into the night, a gust of ghostly wind suddenly bursts the doors and windows open, and a man appears on her bed.
In the moonlight, the man wears a blue robe and has tender eyes. He leans languidly to one side, his robe half open, and speaks in a soft voice: "Miss Ning, the night is long. Why don't we..."
Caiwei turns a page in her book without looking up.
He leans close, breath warm by her ear. "It's late and cold. Why not let this young scholar..."
"There's firewood outside. If you're cold, make a fire."
Ning Caiwei closes her book, turns around, lies down on the straw mat, and shuts her eyes.
Outside the temple, Nie Xiaoqing kicks a pillar hard.
After decades of honing his skills, his very first attempt ends with the door shut in his face. He'll never hear the end of it from the others when he gets back.
Xiaoqing grits his teeth and stares at the temple door, thinking: I'm going to suck the yang energy out of this Ning woman, no matter what!
A bookish scholar who only wants to study x a ghost who only wants the scholar
*This story was inspired by Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, "Nie Xiaoqian."
The setting is fictional, with many original elements, and no specific dynasty can be identified.
Theme: Do not change your convictions for wealth and honor, nor your heart for a corrupt world.
