A Dreamlike Life

With both parents dead and her grandmother gravely ill, six-year-old Shen Yuan overhears the village adults talking. After begging everywhere to no avail, she offers her frail body and sells herself to a theatrical troupe, signing a ten-year contract just to get the money for her grandmother’s life-saving medicine. Life in the troupe is beset with obstacles: she is beaten as she trains, bullied by her fellow performers, and constantly shackled by her lowly status. After mastering her craft, she takes the stage one day and becomes the finest performer in the capital. Tempted by the powerful and surrounded by the idle gossip of the Tang people, she is urged by everyone to attach herself to some noble patron and find a powerful protector, so life will be easier in the future. But she refuses to become someone’s pampered plaything. Gritting her teeth, Shen Yuan sees out her full ten-year contract, then decides to leave the bustling capital and find a quiet little courtyard where she can build a stage and take on apprentices. She will put down roots and grow amid the dust and mud, taking her fate firmly into her own hands.