Seeking Pleasure in Vain

People have all sorts of misconceptions about the immortals. Some think they are cold and loveless, others that they are paragons of virtue. But after thousands of years, only those who were no small fry have remained to receive worship. Every temple, every gilded statue, and every story passed around the streets may well have been deliberately spread. After all, without the ceaseless power of belief from the common people, how could the immortals sit in the heavens and look down upon the mortal world with a smile?

And of all the tales, whether fanciful or true, there is one immortal who has been maligned the most. At least, that's what he thinks. This immortal is none other than the Matchmaker, chief deity of the Marriage Hall in the moon palace's splendid halls.

Calling him the Matchmaker is a little unfair. At first glance, he seems no older than thirty: dark hair beneath a jade crown, a high-bridged nose, and a handsome, refined air. His peach blossom eyes, especially, always seem to shimmer with a smile, lending a gentle quality to everything around him. Unfortunately, though he oversees love and marriage, he cannot find a match for himself. Every day, he gets drunk in the moonlight, calling out in such heartbroken tones that anyone who hears him would be moved to tears.

So I had no choice but to drag him back to his bedchamber and dump him onto the bed. I'm always the one left to clean up this mess.

That's right, I'm a nameless little immortal official under the Matchmaker. My daily duties involve tying red threads for mortals in the Marriage Hall. When I have nothing to do, I go to the nearby Guanghan Palace to chat with Chang'e, and sometimes take the Jade Rabbit to chase Wu Gang as he chops at the cassia tree. The passing centuries haven't been boring at all.

But I never thought that one day I, too, would encounter my own destined love...

Theme: That is the nature of bonds. Even if you cannot remember a face or find the one you seek, a vague shadow is enough to bring tears to your eyes when you wake from a midnight dream. Some memories cannot be erased.