Pavilion of the Zither

The Great Song Underworld, one of the Yiyun Xuan series

At the entrance to Qingshui Alley in the outer city of Dongjing stood a tavern called Embracing the Zither. Its owner was a young man surnamed Murong.

Perhaps all the neighbors thought it was an ordinary little tavern. Only a few had glimpsed what went on behind the scenes.

Be careful with his wine.

Notes:

1. Adjusting the historical setting. Jingde Year One (1004) was early in the Northern Song. Commoners mostly wore white, though an edict in 982 also permitted them to wear dark colors, so the commoners in this story mostly wear black and white. I personally can't stand the image of a “boy in white,” but the protagonist really is a young man, and he is a commoner. I won't specify what colors individual commoners wear.

2. This is the Northern Song, when Neo-Confucianism had not yet caught on and women were not severely oppressed. Remarriage was relatively free. Women in the north did not bind their feet. In the south, the custom was only just beginning to spread, and northerners considered it a “southern barbarian custom.” So every woman in this story has a perfectly healthy pair of natural feet. (God, while you're at it, please abolish high heels too...)

3. In the Northern Song, the government sold wine, and taverns brewed their own. Private brewing and sales were illegal. Small inns bought their supplies from larger taverns. See the signs in Along the River During the Qingming Festival.

4. The dialects in this story are mainly from the Bian-Luo and Wu language groups.

This story has now been completely rewritten. The second draft is the real version; the first draft doesn't count. Lots of people liked the first draft back then, so I'll leave it here for everyone to read for now. Once I've finished Phoenix Terrace and Floating Clouds, I'll come back and give it the axe.