In the tenth year of the Wanli reign, Meng Yan, Duke of Zhou, was demoted to magistrate of Xiaoshan County in Hangzhou Prefecture. A ghost in his jurisdiction possessed a corpse, married, had children, and swindled the locals. Thanks to the magistrate's keen eye, it was exposed, the evil spirit fled, and the county was cleansed. The following autumn, a phoenix descended upon the county seat, circled overhead, then flew away. Everyone saw it. The auspicious omen reached the emperor's ears, and the duke was reinstated.
-- Notes from the Ancient Pavilion
Danshan, the mountain where the phoenix appears. A guest of Danshan refers to a phoenix.
"I am a dead person."
"After people die, many things they once couldn't let go of fade from their minds. But there are also things they thought they could forget that only come back to them when they are dying."
"Perhaps those are the most important things of all."
If you are a fake,
how could I be real?
In the end, we're just two false spirits,
yet somehow, without realizing it, we exchanged true feelings.
* A short historical romance promised to @Xi Shu, with a touch of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (what even is that?), entirely fictional.
* The central theme is exploring how far a person can go in sacrificing for another, so I hope this will be a healing story (please believe me).
