An eighteen-day farewell for Wang Baochuan, beginning after Xue Pinggui's death.
This is loosely based on the Peking opera The Red-Maned Steed. At first, I'd only heard that Xue was a huge scumbag. But after listening to "Wujia Slope 2021," I got hooked and went to watch the original opera. I can only say that the version I saw had cut almost all of the controversial scumbag scenes. He was a hopeless romantic who gave his life away every day despite having little self-esteem. In one act, "Mistaken Hour, Three Beatings," the Wang family even set him up to be killed three times. It ends with everyone happily reunited. I feel like he would have died ages ago if fate hadn't been on his side, so I wrote this short story starting from his death.
P.S. Wang Baochuan is the main viewpoint character and the sole female lead throughout. This follows the Xue-Wang pairing: they are each other's true love. If that's a dealbreaker, please don't read.
P.P.S. If you're interested in the original Peking opera, the part that made me cry was "Pinggui Leaves the Cave." When Xue Pinggui used his red-tasseled spear to wipe Wang Baochuan's tears, I burst into tears too.
Theme: Love can overcome anything
