Half-Demon Liu Ruyan

The Half-Demon Liu Ruyan

In Bianjing during the Northern Song dynasty, the half-demon Liu Ruyan hides in the Music Bureau to escape danger, but a pipa performance draws the mortal scholar Huang Tingjian to her.

He does not know that she takes on her demon form on moonlit nights. She does not know that he is a secret agent for the Longtu Pavilion.

As the Demon Bureau lays a trap across the city, she flees and he pursues, she hides and he searches. Amid the chaos sweeping the city, who will be the first to fall in love?

"Liu Ruyan, you stole more than my heart. You stole all the reason I had as a human."

"Huang Tingjian, what if I told you that half my blood is demonic?"

The hand holding his brush paused. Ink dripped onto the rice paper, spreading into a plum blossom. "Then that's perfect. The thing I'm best at in this life is dealing with demons."

But when the truth came to light, he discovered that he was the one who had been kept in the dark, the prey all along...

And the reason she had infiltrated the Music Bureau was actually...

Winter nights in Bianjing always came suddenly and bitterly cold. The north wind carried the dampness of the Yellow River, making the lanterns along Imperial Street sway as though they might fall at any moment. Yet in the warm room in the Music Bureau's rear courtyard, springlike warmth filled the air. Charcoal crackled in a copper brazier, casting a glow over the walls.

Liu Ruyan sat in a rosewood armchair, holding a pipa with a curved neck. She plucked a string with her fingertips, and a string of notes, clear as pearls, spilled forth. Her eyes were lowered, her long lashes casting a small shadow beneath them and hiding most of her amber eyes. Nanny Li, the Music Bureau's manager, often said that her eyes looked far too demonic, and that she should veil them when receiving guests, lest she frighten away the officials and nobles.

"Miss Liu, play 'The Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Robe' again. The young master from Minister Wang's family just gave you another ten taels of silver." The little maid Cui'er came over, her voice full of ingratiating cheer.

Liu Ruyan gave a small shake of her head. Her fingers continued to pluck the strings, switching to a gentler, slower tune. She did not like playing "The Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Robe." It was too grand and ornate. Whenever she played it, she felt like a golden canary trapped in a cage, with nothing but beautiful feathers to show for herself.

As she played, a commotion suddenly came from the front hall. Someone was arguing. The voices were quiet, but one carried an unquestionable authority.

"I said no guests means no guests. My young master came today only to hear Miss Liu play the pipa." The speaker was a young man. His voice was clear, with the distinctive boldness of youth.

Nanny Li's voice immediately softened. "So it's Young Master Huang. Please wait a moment. I'll go invite Miss Liu right away."

By the time the door to the warm room opened, Liu Ruyan had already set down her pipa and risen to greet her guest. She looked up and saw a young man standing in the doorway, dressed in a blue-gray scholar's robe. He was tall and slender, with handsome, refined features and the scholarly elegance of a well-read man, yet his eyes were sharp, like two short swords drawn from their sheaths.

"Miss Liu." Huang Tingjian inclined his head slightly, his voice gentle. "Forgive me for intruding."

He came closer and sat in the chair across from her. The light from the charcoal fire fell across his face, making his features seem all the more distinct. Liu Ruyan noticed his fingers: long, fair, and clearly defined, the hands of someone who had held a brush for years.

"I've heard your pipa is unmatched in Bianjing. I've come to hear it for myself." As he spoke, his gaze fell on the pipa in her arms. He looked at it intently, as though it were a treasured antique.

Liu Ruyan said nothing. She picked up the pipa again and lightly brushed its strings. She played "Three Variations on the Plum Blossom," a cool, lonely tune like a single white plum blooming in winter. As she reached the second passage, she suddenly felt a strange gaze, as if some beast were staring at her. Her hand trembled, and she played a wrong note.

"You seem distracted, Miss Liu." Huang Tingjian picked up his teacup and gently blew away the foam. "That note shouldn't have been off-key."

Liu Ruyan lowered her eyes. "You have a fine ear, Young Master."

"Not particularly." He sipped his tea, but his gaze remained fixed on her face, as if trying to identify something. "It's just that I feel there's something else hidden in your pipa music."

By the time Huang Tingjian left that night, the moon had climbed high. Liu Ruyan stood by the rear window, watching his slender figure disappear into the darkness. An inexplicable unease stirred within her. She could not shake the feeling that his eyes were too sharp, as if they could see through everything.

After midnight, the Music Bureau finally fell quiet. Liu Ruyan returned to her little courtyard and closed the gate, then let out a long breath of relief. She removed the hairpin holding up her hair. Her long black hair fell loose, but the ends glimmered faintly with silver. She walked to the mirror and slowly pulled open her collar. Beneath her shoulder blade, a silver scale glimmered faintly in the moonlight.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. It was the night of the full moon. Before the hour of the ox, she had to leave the Music Bureau and go to the small woods outside the city, where she could wait for these strange changes to fade.

But just as she turned to climb out through the rear window, a knock came from the courtyard gate. It was neither hurried nor hesitant, yet each knock seemed to strike her heart.

"Miss Liu, it's me, Huang Tingjian."

Liu Ruyan froze. If anyone saw her like this...

"I know you're in there." His voice remained gentle, but carried a certainty that left no room for refusal. "Open the door. I have something to ask you."

She gritted her teeth, pulled her collar up to cover the scale, and pinned her hair up as quickly as she could. When she opened the door, Huang Tingjian stood in the moonlight, holding a lantern. Its light fell across his face, his expression almost unnaturally calm.

"I'm sorry to disturb you so late. I had no choice." His gaze swept over her room, then settled on her fingers, which were trembling slightly. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No." Liu Ruyan tried to keep her voice steady. "If you came here so late to hear the pipa..."

"I didn't come for the pipa." He cut her off and suddenly stepped closer, stopping less than a foot away. "I came because of the mark on your wrist."

Liu Ruyan looked down. At some point, a ring of pale silver markings had appeared around her left wrist. They looked like fish scales, faintly visible in the moonlight.

Her heart sank.

"When I was seven," Huang Tingjian began, his voice low, "I met a half-demon. He lived in the bamboo grove behind our village. On every full moon night, he would turn into a giant carp and swim in the stream. Everyone in the village feared him. I was the only one who didn't. I used to sneak over to see him and bring him rice cakes."

Liu Ruyan looked up at him sharply, her amber eyes full of shock.

"Later, the Demon Bureau captured him." Huang Tingjian's gaze fell on the markings on her wrist. "Those markings are exactly the same as the ones on that half-demon."

The air seemed to freeze. The fire in the brazier was slowly dying, and moonlight slipped through the cracks in the window like a silver snake.

Liu Ruyan stepped back, her spine pressing against the cold wall. Looking at the young man before her, she suddenly felt that his eyes were darker than the night and more inscrutable than an abyss.

"You..." Her voice was hoarse. "You're with the Demon Bureau?"

"I used to be." He admitted it quite calmly. "Now I'm just an idle scholar who edits books at the Longtu Pavilion. But I know the Demon Bureau's methods better than anyone."

Liu Ruyan's fingers curled into her palm, her nails almost digging into her skin. She thought of the rumors about the Demon Bureau that circulated through the Music Bureau, and of the demons who had been taken away. Not one had ever come back alive.

"What do you want?" she asked, a barely perceptible tremor in her voice.

Huang Tingjian did not answer immediately. He turned and went to the window, pushing it open to let in the bitter night wind. In the moonlight, his profile looked like a jade carving, its lines hard and cold.

"Do you know the Demon Bureau is currently hunting a half-demon? They say that half-demon carries a demon core, a relic left behind by the former Demon King. The core can open the gate to the demon realm. If it falls into the Demon Bureau's hands, all the half-demons in Bianjing will be doomed."

Liu Ruyan's fingertips grew cold. Of course she knew. Because she was that half-demon. The demon core was hidden in the inconspicuous wooden hairpin in her hair.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked softly.

Huang Tingjian turned to face her, his gaze dark and intent. "Because I want to make a deal with you."

"What deal?"

"I'll help you evade the Demon Bureau. In return..." He paused and took a yellowed silk scroll from his sleeve. "Help me uncover its secrets."

Liu Ruyan took the scroll and unfurled it. There was a map on it. The ink had faded, but several markings were still faintly visible. It showed the layout of several important waterways within Bianjing, one of them a tributary of the Bian River behind the Music Bureau.

"What is this?" she asked.

"My father left it behind." Huang Tingjian's voice suddenly dropped. "He was once a member of the Demon Bureau too. He was later killed by them while investigating a case. Before he died, he gave me this scroll and said that only a half-demon could uncover its secrets."

Liu Ruyan's fingers tightened around the scroll. Looking at the young man before her, she suddenly felt that he was like a pool of unfathomable water, calm on the surface but full of hidden currents below.

"What makes you think I'll help you?" she asked.

Huang Tingjian did not answer. He walked up to her and gently touched the silver markings on her wrist. His fingertips were cool, but the touch somehow comforted her.

"Because," he said, his voice low and clear, "you and I are the same kind of person. We're both people cast aside by this world, with nowhere to call home."

Liu Ruyan's eyes suddenly stung. She turned away so her tears would not fall.

"Fine," she said. "I'll help you."

The moonlight outside suddenly dimmed for a moment, as if something had passed in front of it. Liu Ruyan instinctively looked up and saw a huge black wing sweep across the night sky. Its edges glinted with a cold, metallic sheen.

"That's a night owl of the Demon Bureau." Huang Tingjian's voice suddenly became urgent. "They're searching the city. Come with me."

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out through the rear window. In the darkness, his palm was dry and warm, holding her hand tightly.

They raced along the path beside a tributary of the Bian River. Behind them, the night owl's piercing cry rang out. Liu Ruyan felt as though her heart might leap out of her chest. The silver markings on her wrist grew brighter in the moonlight, and the scales beneath her shoulder blade began to burn.

"Up ahead!" Huang Tingjian suddenly stopped and pointed to an abandoned pier on the riverbank. "Jump down!"

Theme: Northern Song dynasty