What Must Not Be Said Before the Hall

When they first met, they were high school classmates who had crossed paths only a few times. Cheng Xiansheng wore black and kept everyone at a cold, aloof distance. Chu Sheng was the only daughter of the powerful Chu family in the capital. Born to a prominent family, she was adored by all and no one dared bully her. “She said her life had two parts. For the first twenty years, she enjoyed every kind of beauty the world had to offer. But she wasn’t satisfied. Then she met him, and her life vanished into a fog. Others pulled her strings, yet she gave him the purest love.” Someone once asked Cheng Xiansheng if he had fallen in love with Chu Sheng. He said, “Can you love someone who never even existed?” He loved Chu Wan, but Chu Wan was a pawn they had created through every means at their disposal, a pawn meant to break the deadlock. Chu Wan was the tragedy of Chu Sheng’s life, and he had helped bring it about. He hadn’t dared confess his feelings to the proud girl he first met, so how could he dare speak of love?