He Falls in Love in His Revenge Story

Print title: Ensnared Everyone in the Xie family studied law. Xie Shang possessed all the fine qualities one would expect from a family of scholars: elegance, erudition, a love of incense and scripture, and skill in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. But he was a madman. He could cradle Buddhist scriptures as he read, or snap the bones in someone’s hands and feet. He could be tender, and he could be cruel. Xie Shang didn’t become a lawyer. He opened a pawnshop where anything could be pawned, as long as the story behind it was moving enough. One day, someone came to the pawnshop and told him a story: In Xiangcheng lived a family surnamed Wen. The daughters all took their mother’s surname, and they knew how to cast love spells, the kind that left men utterly bewitched. Their lovers either died and were buried with them, or became monks. In any case, they ended up dead or lonely for the rest of their lives. Xie Shang’s uncle had died in Xiangcheng, so he took on this pawn deal. Bewitched, enchanted, thrilled, deeply in love, unable to have the one you love, and utterly heartbroken. That was the script Xie Shang had prepared for Wen Changling, the little deaf girl. In the end, Xie Shang was the one who got stuck with this lovesick script. Wen Changling: “Surprised, Mr. Xie Shang?” (This is not about transmigrating into a book. It’s a modern-day sweet romance. The “script” in the title means a carefully planned scheme.)