The Actors' Stage

Upcoming story: Rui Lin, a honey-tongued, dagger-hearted princess x a seemingly gentle but secretly cunning strategist

Story blurb:

[Zither Player x Palace Consort], set in an alternate Spring and Autumn period.

I am a zither player, unmatched in skill and deeply favored by the King of Chu. Since I was young, I have often entered the palace to play for him.

The King of Chu loves music, but loves slender beauties even more. So, in the southwest corner of Zhugong, he built a tall pavilion where he gathered and kept beautiful entertainers, enjoying music and song night after night.

On the three-story pavilion, among the music and dancing, beautiful women came and went, replaced one after another. I played zither for him beneath the pavilion for seven years, never once looking up.

Until one day, I happened to glance back and caught sight of someone in a fleeting, breathtaking moment.

She was the woman I held dearest in my heart, and also one of the King of Chu's consorts.

After that, I began looking up more often. But whenever I did, I saw only a frown on her brow and sorrow in her eyes.

I knew she wasn't happy, but the only thing I could do was play the familiar "Song of Xiang Jun" for her day after day, rain or shine. It was once her favorite melody, and I had composed it especially for her, yet she seemed to have forgotten...

One day, she finally came down from the entertainers' pavilion, covered in whip marks and wearing a straw raincoat, her body wasted away.

"You're... Zhong Tong." She recognized me.

I decided to take her away.

Reader's Guide:

1. First-person male protagonist's perspective, inspired by the traditional-style song "The Zither Player."

2. Bad ending! Bad ending! Bad ending! Set in an alternate Spring and Autumn period. A short writing exercise, not serialized for payment, under 50,000 Chinese characters in total.

------ Upcoming story: Rui Lin ------

[Honey-tongued, dagger-hearted princess x seemingly gentle but secretly cunning strategist]

Ji Rui is the only daughter of the Earl of the West. She learned divination as a child and quickly became famous for it.

At the time, a tyrant ruled, imposing harsh punishments and heavy taxes. Everyone thought she would use her extraordinary skill to support the king and save the people. Instead, Ji Rui intended to help her father become king.

One day, she cast a divination for her father: if the Lord of Xiqi wished to become king, he would need the support of four worthy ministers.

Soon, she had found all four, but one man named Nangong Zi refused to cooperate.

Ji Rui tried tempting him with wealth and herself, but the young lord was unmoved. Left with no other choice, she lied, claiming he possessed the Hexagram of Modesty and that he would meet a tragic end unless he chose a worthy ruler to serve.

At those words, he seemed afraid and obediently agreed to become her father's adviser.

But soon she discovered that Nangong Zi, though handsome, was naturally cunning and sharp-minded. He insisted on putting on the appearance of a noble, openhearted gentleman, winning the hearts of countless young noblewomen in Xiqi, and even repeatedly tempting them with his charms.

What a hypocritical, self-righteous fraud...

Determined to keep him around, she fussed over him every day, brought him soup at night, and danced close to him. But he remained completely unmoved.

*

Years later, the Earl of the West was imprisoned in Youli. When Ji Rui decided to go alone to Zhaoge to negotiate, the hypocrite insisted on going with her.

The journey ahead was perilous, and neither of them knew if they would survive. Along the way, the hypocrite was gravely wounded, and his father died.

Overcome with grief, Ji Rui was moved and solemnly told him, "If you wish, I can become your family. From now on, we'll be as close as siblings, like blossoms on the same cherry tree."

That day, he gazed at her for a long time, his eyes dark and deep.

*

Times changed, and the world turned.

The Yin Shang dynasty fell, and Xiqi rose.

Nangong Zi followed the new king of Xiqi as he expanded his territory, becoming one of the most powerful founding generals of the Zhou state of Qi.

One day, after a sacrificial ceremony, the hypocrite presumptuously pinned her down on the altar table, gazing at her passionately as he mumbled, "I want to dance close with the princess."

Even knowing he had been drinking, Ji Rui felt a little flustered and couldn't help snapping:

"Nangong Shi! Aren't we... family?!"

The hypocrite tenderly stroked her raven hair and gave her a playful "Hmm." "A wife is family too."

Reader's Guide:

1. One-on-one romance, happy ending, set in an alternate world at the end of the Shang and beginning of the Zhou.

2. The female lead is fictional. The historical King Wen of Zhou had no daughters, and the male lead's name is Nangong Shi (pronounced Kuo, fourth tone).

3. The female lead is a hypocrite with ambition, and her family is her only weakness. She is completely different from the female lead of Jian'an Illusion.

4. This is not a derivative work. Some characters differ considerably from their historical counterparts, so readers who are strict about historical accuracy should stay away.

Theme: A zither beneath the moon at the entertainers' pavilion, a consort's tears soaking her silk robes