[Eunuch x Courtesan]
A curious tale began circulating in Chang'an.
A eunuch with nothing between his legs spent money every month to book Pingkang Ward's most expensive courtesan, Shisanniang. People laughed and teased him. "How does he... do it? He's missing... everything down there."
"If you ask me, eunuchs are the most depraved. They get up to all kinds of things, because they're already twisted inside."
"Haven't you heard? They're old lovers, a pair of ill-fated lovebirds..."
And the ill-fated lovers: one lay on her side beside the canopy bed, while the other sat upright at the tea table.
Huaizhu smiled and asked, "Aren't you coming up? The bed is huge."
"No. Go to sleep." I'll sit here and watch you sleep.
A single reform toppled two towering trees that had once intertwined, before the common people had even been born.
When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Now, all the men of the Shi family have been sentenced to death, except for the Fifth Young Master, Shi Yunyu, who has been castrated. The women have all been sold into servitude.
The same happened to the Shui family, except that the Thirteenth Young Lady, Shui Shisanniang, was specifically ordered to be sent to Pingkang Ward.
People in Chang'an used to praise Fifth Young Master Shi and Thirteenth Young Lady Shui as a match made in heaven. Now, all they could do was sigh...
One became a celebrated courtesan in Pingkang Ward; the other lived as a eunuch, bullied by anyone and everyone behind high walls.
A pearl fallen into the mud, a piece of jade shattered into roof tiles. That was all.
Blurb to be decided. Written at the end of 2022.
Theme: Kindred souls
