A Face Like a Peach Blossom (Story Collection)

The title comes from the line, "Through the haze, a single thread of ghostly lamplight reveals a peach-blossom face." This is tentatively planned as a collection of stories. The original fox story will be the first arc.

1. The Tailless Fox

"Records of the Dark: On Foxes": "At fifty, a fox can transform into a woman. At a hundred, it can become a beauty, a spirit medium, or a man who couples with women. It can know what happens a thousand li away, cast bewitching spells, and make people lose their senses. At a thousand years old, it can communicate with Heaven and become a Celestial Fox."

In ancient times, Celestial Foxes were revered auspicious beasts, ranking alongside dragons, qilin, and phoenixes as the Four Great Omens.

As time went on, their fortunes declined. They gradually fell from grace and were denounced as monsters, no longer welcome in the upper realm, until they were forced to drift through the mortal world.

**

As a child, Qieyou, a girl from a frontier city, found a dying little fox in the desert. She carefully nursed it back to health and treated it as her closest friend. The girl and fox were companions for many years. The little fox knew all her secrets, including her longing for and years of waiting for her cousin, the young lord of the city, who had left on a distant journey.

After Qieyou grew up, the little fox suddenly disappeared. Her cousin finally returned home, but brought a strange woman with him and swore he would spend his life with her.

Qieyou's aunt and uncle fiercely opposed the match and resolved to have the woman put to death. Overcome with worry and grief, her cousin fell gravely ill and could not be cured by any medicine. When a notice went up seeking a physician, a mysterious sorcerer offered to try, on the condition that if he cured the young lord, Qieyou would go with him...

-- [Male fox x female ghost] The story of a handsome fox who lost his tail in his single-minded pursuit of love

2. The Peach-Blossom Face

Before the royal city was besieged, a brother hid his terminally ill sister in a secluded mountain cave. Then he risked going back to find medicine, while also hoping to take care of some personal business.

Many years later, a beggar came searching for the place, but found only an ordinary courtyard and a melancholy young woman.

The beggar explained that someone from his past had asked him to deliver medicine to his sister. Unfortunately, he had been captured by a rebel army and forced to labor, delaying him until now.

Night had fallen, so the young woman let him stay. When he woke the next day, the thatched cottage and bamboo fence had vanished, and the young woman was nowhere to be found. The beggar was inside a deep, shadowy cave.

Where the daylight gathered, it revealed a heap of stark white bones, draped in green vines and surrounded by fragrant wildflowers. The beggar finally realized that this was the person he had searched for in vain.

-- [Princess x eunuch] The story of a female ghost returning to the past to lay her resentment to rest

3. Incense of Rebirth

Li Yan is a faceless girl who travels the world with her living-dead master, searching for a mysterious woman who often appears in their dreams.

Along the way, they meet a young man who reveals that he has also dreamed of the woman and can even name her: Duyi.

The three set off together, piecing together the fragments and gradually uncovering a strange past. As Duyi appears, the truth about all three of their origins slowly comes to light...

If Li Yan is the protagonist of this story, it should count as no-cp, but the mad witch Duyi has a bigger role. We'll see when we get there.

4. Dreaming Herb

To be decided

I've been developing the first and second stories for many years, and have rough outlines in my head. The third story is complete and has the feel of early Huahuo fiction. The fourth is still undecided.

Theme: None yet