A Different Kind of Fairy Tale

[Cinderella], [The Little Mermaid], and [The Nightingale and the Rose] are complete.

In the fairy tales passed down through the ages:

The prince doesn’t seem very bright, and falls in love at first sight every time.

Cinderella has a wicked stepmother, and a hazel tree grants her a gown.

A scholar needs a rose to woo his beloved, and the nightingale sheds its blood without regret.

The red shoes are fit for a princess, and a country girl must never wear them.

The king of the Kingdom of West is gravely ill. The throne must be passed to either Princess Annalise or Princess Karina, and so the true “fairy tale” begins.

*

Annalise was once a kind and reserved, yet ordinary princess. She had no intention of fighting for the throne.

But after meeting Dilette, she is forced to become skilled at solving cases and brave enough to explore, step by step embarking on the path to queenship that he has laid out for her.

Evil will eventually be punished, but she is beyond the law’s reach.

1. [The Little Mermaid]

The mermaid had no tail and could speak. The prince saw her when she rescued him.

But he still married Princess Karina.

2. [Cinderella]

A ball is held at the palace of West, and peas are poured into the ashes.

White doves fly toward the kitchen, leading her to a forest gravestone, where treasures lie in heaps in a hazel tree.

3. [The Nightingale and the Rose]

The mermaid travels north with the two of them and becomes a nightingale girl.

She tends to a rose, nearly dying on its thorns.

4. [The Red Shoes]

On Princess Karina’s feet are Karen’s dancing shoes.

The shoemaker threatens her: if she accuses him, blood will be shed.

5. [Little Red Riding Hood]

6. [The Knight Who Rode the Moon]

7. [The Prince and the Pauper]

P.S.

1. This is not a quick transmigration story. It’s more of a secret identity story, a realistic ongoing drama!

2. It’s an episodic story. Annalise doesn’t get much screen time in the first three tales, so if you only want to read the main plot, you can skip chapters 6-14, 18-23, and 36-40.

The characters cross paths between stories. In my opinion, that’s the magic of an ongoing drama.

3. The main theme is good triumphing over evil, but this is not a sweet fairy tale. There are plenty of scumbag men, so keep your eyes open when it comes to romance!

4. There is no magic in this story’s setting, so there are no mermaids, witches, or fairies. Their roles will be explained through other identities.

Blurb for the upcoming story, The Records of Demonization in Xuanjing

It is written in the books: During the Xuanjing era of the Great Song, nature became demonic. All living things, spirits, and monsters appeared in droves and ran rampant through the world. This was said to be an omen from Heaven.

The Whitewater Pavilion is a mysterious organization that maintains order between humans and demons, ensuring that all living beings can coexist peacefully.

The Whitewater Pavilion has no master, only an acting master.

One day, the acting master somehow brought back a reserved little girl to work as a clerk.

Before the pavilion’s spirit beasts could reprimand him for his shameless exploitation of child labor, he shoved the piles of case files on the floor in front of the little girl. “Thank you, young miss, for saving our lives!”

*

Yuqing is a newly born book spirit. Compared with the spirit beasts, most of whom have lived for tens of thousands of years, she really is just a somewhat reserved, taciturn little girl.

But she has a secret.

Whenever she touches a demon or spirit, information about it appears on the jade slip that is her true form, including its type, habits, abilities... and even its weaknesses.

For instance, her colleagues, who are all very kind to her, have extraordinary identities: there’s the Far-Flying Chicken, skilled at tracking, and the Eight-Tailed Fox, captivating and alluring...

But she can never see through the young man who recruited her into the Whitewater Pavilion, yet spends his days behaving like a libertine.

Until one day, the troublesome Malaria Demon tries to attack Yuqing. He suddenly steps in front of her, and a vast crimson shadow fills her entire field of vision.

At last, she learns his true form.

“And what about you? What are you?” He pins the howling, weeping Malaria Demon beneath his foot, smiling calmly, with an emotion in his eyes she cannot understand.

Yuqing says nothing. She only suddenly feels that the jade slip in her hand, burning hot, has become a little unfamiliar.

*

When Yu Zhuo was still a little crimson snake on Zhangwei Mountain, his favorite thing was to turn into a child and run after a woman, watching her make a bamboo fan for him with her own hands.

The day she died, he held back his grief and searched all six realms, but could not find even a trace of her. He could only wait in anguish at the Whitewater Pavilion they had founded together, honoring her last request.

He believed she would return.

Ten thousand years later, the waters off Fujian shook. He went to investigate, and at a glance, he saw “her.”

Theme: Exploring the logic beneath fairy tales.