Fish Dragon Dance

On the night of the Yuan Dynasty, all lights in Chang'an City were lit up. On Zhuque Street, fish and dragon lanterns swim across the long street, with golden scales twinkling and candlelight swaying. There was a steady flow of people, chatter and laughter, and fireworks exploded in the night sky and fell like broken gold. In the crowd, a young man looked up at the lamp. Her name is Chen Yifan, she is nineteen years old and is the number one scholar in a new subject. Wearing casual clothes, she walked alone into the city she was about to enter, wanting to see what it looked like. The light reflected on her face, illuminating the heroic spirit between her brows. But there was no complacency in her eyes, only a kind of loneliness - a bottomless, unspeakable loneliness that was suppressed in her bones and blood. On top of the city tower, a young girl stood leaning on the railing. Her name is Zhao Qianyi, she is seventeen years old and the current princess. She wore a moon-white cloak, her hair was simply pulled up, and no makeup was applied. She was extremely intelligent since she was a child, and was often praised by her father, "If she were a man, she would be a minister of the country." But she is a girl. So she could only stand on the tower, watching the scholars file into the Gongyuan, and then watch them file out. The lights spread out at her feet like a luminous river, but none of them lit up for her. At that moment, they saw each other. It's not an encounter, it's a sight. One saw the loneliness of the other, and the other saw the light of the other. That's where all bonds begin. In the seventeenth year of Qingyuan, Chen Yifan entered the official ranks with the first rank. She is the first female number one scholar in this dynasty, and the only number one scholar in this dynasty who cannot show her true colors. When she was twelve years old, her father died in Lingnan. She read the suicide note left by her father in her mother's arms: "Yi Fan, I don't have time to see this world. You see it for me." From that day on, she cut off her long hair, tied up her crown, and lived her life as the son of the Chen family. It took her ten years to pass the provincial examination, general examination, and palace examination, and she walked a path that no one could even imagine. She is more diligent than everyone else, more cautious than everyone else, and more silent than everyone else. She does not join any party, does not take sides, and does not participate in any factional struggles. She lived like a knife - the blade was facing outward and the handle was held in her hand. Zhao Qianyi remembered that figure on the tower. She didn't know who she was, but she knew that that person was the same person as her. They are both trapped in a cage, but her cage is the palace wall, and that person's cage is the champion robe. She began to "accidentally" mention that name in front of her father, and began to secretly pave the way for that person's career. The princess cannot be involved in politics, but she can say in the imperial study, "This policy is quite interesting," and she can hand her a cup of tea when her father is criticizing her son, and say, "If the implications are too wide, I'm afraid no one in the court will be able to do anything." Her power is not in the light, but in the dark - in the tea cup in the royal study, next to her father's memorial, and in those "inadvertent" reminders. In the twenty-third year of Qingyuan, Beidi invaded, and the emperor decided to make peace. Zhao Qianyi married far away from Saibei. Before leaving, she met Chen Yifan in the Imperial Garden - that was the first time they really spoke. The peach blossoms were in full bloom, and the petals fell on their shoulders, paving a pink-white road between them. Zhao Qianyi said: "Because I am a daughter, I can only get married." Chen Yifan looked at her and said: "Princess, being a daughter is not a shackles. It is a knife. A knife can kill people, protect people, split thorns, and open a way." From that day on, they started communicating. Each of those letters had to pass through thousands of miles of grassland and cross the enemy's border, risking being intercepted. They don't talk about missing or caring, they only talk about planning. In the letter, Zhao Qianyi told Chen Yifan the internal conflicts of Beidi - which prince coveted the throne of Khan, which general was dissatisfied with the Khan, and which tribe had a feud with which tribe. In the letter, Chen Yifan told Zhao Qianyi about the changes in the court - who was promoted and who was demoted, who was worth winning over and who needed to be wary of. They used a letter to weave a web. They are each other's knives. They have never met, but they are closer than anyone else. In the 29th year of Qingyuan, Chen Yifan paid homage to the prime minister. It took her ten years to go from being a co-author in the Hanlin Academy to being the chief minister of the cabinet, and from being unknown to being in power. She implemented the New Deal, reformed the imperial examinations, rectified official administration, and reduced taxes. She sharpened herself into the sharpest knife, and then used this knife to split the road to marriage and the princess' return. When Zhao Qianyi returned to Chang'an, it was spring. Peach blossoms filled the Imperial Garden, exactly the same as six years ago. She was wearing Han clothes and her hair was in a Han bun, like a person who had just woken up from a dream. She stayed in Saibei for six years and learned to ride horses, archery, speak nonsense, learn to deal with the light of swords and shadows, and learned to protect herself in the enemy camp. She sharpened herself into another knife, and then waited for the person holding the knife. In the thirty-fourth year of Qingyuan, it was another Yuan night. Chang'an City is lit up with thousands of lights. Chen Yifan and Zhao Qianyi stood side by side on the tower, watching the fish dragon lantern swim across the long street. The golden light illuminated their faces, the white hair on their temples, and the vicissitudes of life in their eyes. Zhao Qianyi reached out and held Chen Yifan's hand. "Let's watch this world together." They are two women living in the cracks of a male-dominated world. One took the hardest road, and the other waited the longest night. But none of them gave up. Because they know that someone is next to them. Because they knew someone had seen it. The fish dragon lantern swam far away. But next year when the Yuan comes, it will still shine. Just like their path, they will continue to walk. This is "Fish and Dragon Dance". A story about seeing and being seen, a story about how two women become each other in the cracks of fate, a story about swords and scabbards, conspiracy and decision-making, return and distance. The idea: a prime minister and a princess who disguise themselves as men, keep secret letters for ten years, serve as each other's scabbards, and conspire against the world. **Core idea**: The daughter is not a shackle, but a knife - she can chop thorns and open new paths. **Three keywords**: seeing, waiting, and returning. **Emotional core**: It's not love, it's not friendship, it's "becoming ourselves in each other's eyes." Fish dragon lantern (identity crossing), secret letter (silent bond), city tower (starting point of seeing), Saibei snow (long wait), peach blossom (spring of reunion).