"Legend has it that a thousand years ago, there was a lost dynasty. The land was at peace, the nation was prosperous and its armies strong, and the people had plenty to eat and wear and lived contented, comfortable lives."
"Oh? That sounds like a wonderful dynasty! The emperor must have been very wise!" a child exclaimed.
The storyteller smiled. "I'm not finished yet. There is a kind of humanlike demon in this world called a Changsheng. They are all handsome men and beautiful women, and they live a thousand years before finally passing away. Later, the ruler took a peerlessly beautiful consort, not knowing she was a Changsheng. The king of a foreign land coveted her beauty, but the ruler refused to give her up. Several nations went to war, wasting lives and wealth, until the people could no longer live in peace."
"A beauty brings ruin! A beauty brings ruin!" the old man sighed again and again.
"Tsk, tsk. I'd like to see that peerless beauty myself!" the hot-blooded youth muttered.
"And then what happened?" the impatient auntie urged.
The storyteller glanced at the woman in blue, his eyes smiling. He lifted his teacup and slowly scraped the rim with its lid, then said unhurriedly, "And then..."
Mark it. Learn to learn.