[A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality] Beginningless World: The First Heavenly Venerate Leaves the Jade Pool

Blurb:

After a few drinks, Yi felt pleasantly tipsy, but from downstairs came the teasing, intermittent singing of a child performing a lotus-fall ballad.

"Green robe, black cap, riding proudly in the spring breeze."

"Red pomegranate blossoms, white hairpin flowers. The scholar became the top candidate in the palace exam and lost his lovely bride."

The newly made-up tune was off-key, and the child's babbling grated on the ears. A light rain fell, its streams like hemp threads, like the pitiful tears of a lonely woman in her boudoir. Living in Dongjing was no easy matter. The wind had been strong these past few days, bending the emerald bamboo in the courtyard and knocking the camellias to the ground in the manor. The plantain growing by the roadside was used to being trampled and remained unscathed, though it looked a little worse for wear. The white cogongrass on the wall, however, had been battered into a sorry state, limp and prostrate, clinging to life. Only the winding wild vines still clung to the broken branches, seeming to gloat over the upright plants: Look at you. So what if you break? Only the likes of me can survive!

Come see how a man from a humble family, upright and unyielding, loses control of his own life amid the ups and downs of officialdom, and loses the person he loves.

Note: A short fanfic based on the TV series A Dream of Splendor. Complete at 1.8K words, written in a style that imitates classical Chinese.

Told from Ouyang Xu's perspective. Primarily Ouyang Xu and Pan'er, with a tragic ending; Gu Pan is implicit, and the tone leans toward realism. Ouyang Xu doesn't die. He loves Pan'er, and he loves power, but with too little influence behind him, he can only scheme his way up. In the end, he has no choice but to let the world wear down his resolve, becoming the spineless man he himself despises, leaving only a sigh for the state of the world. I'm not a fan of the show, but I think this character is well worth writing about.

Theme: Abandoning sincere love and integrity for fame and fortune is no different from being a walking corpse.