A Taoist Nun Friend of Mine

Also known as The Exquisite Dice Are Speckled with Red Beans

At seventeen, Jiang Yuan is a young Daoist nun at Qingfeng Temple. After completing her training, she descends the mountain to inherit her family's teahouse. She has a mysterious cinnabar brush that can draw talismans and conjure up fantastical realms from people's innermost thoughts, realms that are both illusory and real. She makes a lot of money with the brush, until she sees herself in one of those realms, a thousand years in the past...

_

The Listening Wind Teahouse hires a temporary worker of extraordinary beauty. Graceful and willowy, with a radiant smile, she fills the teahouse with customers every day, all eager to catch a glimpse of her.

She pays no attention to anyone else, gazing tenderly only at the teahouse owner's daughter. The young lady is also breathtakingly beautiful, with a dot of cinnabar between her brows, as lovely as a fairy. But... it would be even better if she didn't carry that cinnabar brush around and draw talismans every waking moment...

It's kind of terrifying...

Reader's guide: A modern fantasy anthology, with stories sparked by a single brush.

Theme: Love can cross a thousand years.