Sparrow Startled by a Branch

[Highlights: A rugged general and his delicate little songbird, with a male side character's groveling redemption arc]

Ruan Yinyin was a delicate little songbird kept in the Regent's manor. Everyone said the Regent doted on her beyond measure.

Even she thought so.

After all, he had personally brought her back from the music house. From then on, he taught her the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting himself.

The Regent could not give her a title, but she always felt that he had a place for her in his heart.

Ruan Yinyin thought things would go on like this forever, until the great general returned victorious and she was personally sent to his bed.

"Yinyin, I know you're the most obedient."

-

At the general's manor, everything was absurd.

Ruan Yinyin was so frightened she tried to run, but she was held fast.

Everyone said the general was so ruthless that even the King of Hell feared him. A delicate, frail songbird like Ruan Yinyin surely wouldn't live long.

Ruan Yinyin was scared too, but the general only gently stroked her back, as if soothing a restless little bird.

"Don't be afraid. Do you think I'd eat you?"

At that, Ruan Yinyin cried even harder.

After all, the man who had taught and raised her could still arrange for her to be sent into someone else's arms. How could she expect anything better from this eight-foot-tall, stern-faced man, a terror even to ghosts?

The general kept her.

She waited in fear for the day she would die, but instead she received endless treasures and one lavish banquet after another.

In the past, she had been raised so delicate and supple that she could truly dance on someone's palm. Now her waist had grown by two and a half inches.

Ruan Yinyin grew even more alarmed.

He was going to take away the only thing she had going for her...

Generals really were a scheming lot!

-

Later on,

the general became so powerful that he threatened the throne, and was poisoned by an assassin.

The Regent read out the imperial decree, seated high above, yet stared straight at Ruan Yinyin, full of confidence.

"Yinyin, come here."

Ruan Yinyin had once feared death most of all. Now she feared the general's death even more.

She knelt before the Regent and begged him again and again to show mercy.

For once, the usually cold Regent crushed the cup in his hand.

"For every word you plead, I'll cut another inch of flesh from him."

Ruan Yinyin understood.

She bowed again, and did not raise her head.

"I beg the Regent to grant me permission to die with the general."

A sparrow and a swan should meet their end together.

Reader's Guide:

· Set in a fictional world, with plenty of authorial liberties. Don't overanalyze the details.

· Both leads are sexually inexperienced.

· A classic soft and delicate heroine, with a melodramatic groveling redemption arc.

· No need to tell me if you drop the story.

Theme: Sincerity deserves sincerity.