Chang'an Without Night

Within Chang'an, shrouded in mist,

a disfigured fox wearing human skin sniffs the air on a rooftop, its fox eyes half narrowed as it lets out a sly, crafty grin.

A mage carrying a human-skin drum walks through an empty alley, a newly gathered ball of fortune pinched in his hand. He slowly inhales it through his nose.

A dancer from a distant land has a waist as supple as a snake. She bites through a patron's neck, then licks the blood from the corner of her lips with her tender tongue.

There is also a girl who rides out through a side gate of Daming Palace. A screen hat hangs from her head, strung with copper coins. In her hand, she carries an imperial command, charged with investigating cases and capturing demons.

Beneath the gauzy veil of her screen hat is half a mask made of specially crafted copper coins. Only her cool, clear eyes are visible.

In the tenth month of the second year of the Linde era, the emperor leads his civil and military officials, while Empress Wu leads the ladies of the inner and outer courts, to Mount Tai to perform the feng and shan sacrifices.

On the day of the ceremony, the emperor and empress discover an infant girl on Mount Tai, wrapped in golden swaddling cloth.

The baby can calm Empress Wu's nightmares. Delighted, the imperial couple take her into the palace to raise her, granting her the same treatment as a princess in every respect.

Theme: Who says women are inferior to men?