Perhaps because it had snowed the night before, the weather that day remained utterly overcast. Pale gray clouds hung low at the horizon, blocking all light and filling the air with an inexplicable chill.
Lin Zixi finished her makeup and changed into costume before arriving on set. She frowned at the gray blanket of clouds overhead and said, “Director Yu, are we really shooting in this weather? Can’t we wait until it clears up?”
Yu Ming burst out laughing. “Teacher Lin, oh Teacher Lin, you’ve already done your makeup and changed, and everyone’s all prepped and ready. You can’t back out now!”
Lin Zixi rubbed her temples with a headache and sighed helplessly. “I wasn’t planning to back out.”
Fine, fine. Let’s just shoot.
She offered a suggestion to Yu Ming. “How about this—Ye Can and I rehearse a bit first?”
Yu Ming nodded. “Sure, go ahead and run through a scene.”
Lin Zixi nodded and called over to Ye Can nearby. “Ye Can, want to rehearse a bit?”
Ye Can nodded and replied with a simple “Okay.”
Lin Zixi took a deep breath, straightened her posture, and stood a few steps away from Ye Can. Ye Can had her back turned, positioned beside a barren plum tree, stepping through the snow as she casually wiped down a sword.
Gazing at Ye Can’s slender back, Lin Zixi sensed a desolate gauntness, as if her very form was wasting away. She drew in another deep breath, schooled her expression, and slowly approached Ye Can’s side.
Her footsteps halted just one step away. Ye Can turned her head, glancing back at the woman behind her. With her long sleeve, she slowly polished the blade glinting with cold light, drawling indifferently, “Does my beloved consort think this sword of mine is sharp enough these days?”
Ye Can remembered this scene well. It came right after she had beheaded several officials in the grand hall, shed her court robes, and come alone to the courtyard to clean the bloodstains.
For whatever reason, Lin Zixi had followed her into the snow-dusted courtyard.
Maybe to dissuade her from more killing, or perhaps to fan the flames—but none of that mattered to Ye Can.
What mattered was that she had followed.
As if reliving yesterday, Ye Can lowered her gaze, a thin smile curving her lips as she extended the sword hilt-first. “If you find it sharp enough, how about I gift it to you?”
She leaned in close to Lin Zixi’s ear and whispered softly, “Then, in the hall, you can kill whomever you please.”
Ye Can stared straight at Lin Zixi, and the world around them seemed to fall silent. For a long moment, Lin Zixi said nothing.
Because staring at that face, Lin Zixi couldn’t hold back—she burst out laughing and broke character.
Ye Can’s eyes widened in shock. “Why are you laughing?!”
Lin Zixi slapped a hand over Ye Can’s face while covering her own, collapsing in hysterics. “I see your face every day—how am I not supposed to crack up?!”
Lin Zixi had never imagined she’d be playing lovers with the kid she shared a bed with every night, acting out a script she herself had written.
She knew it was unprofessional, but performing her own script with Ye Can felt like shamelessly fantasizing about romancing one of her own 2D paper characters. The sheer embarrassment hit her out of nowhere.
So she couldn’t help it—she squatted down, hugged her knees, and laughed until her whole body shook.
Ye Can had no idea what was so funny. She sighed, prodded Lin Zixi’s shoulder with the sword, and said helplessly, “Get up already. Stop laughing—are we rehearsing or not?”
Lin Zixi took a deep breath, stood, stared at Ye Can’s face, composed herself, and nodded solemnly. “We’re rehearsing.” Lin Zixi was professional at heart. Even if it was mortifying, she’d chosen this—she’d see it through.
But they were way too familiar. The moment she looked at Ye Can’s face again, she cracked up once more.
She covered her face, ears burning red, and apologized awkwardly. “My bad, my bad. I shouldn’t have laughed. Sorry.”
Ye Can huffed. “Is my face that funny?” She reached out, cupped Lin Zixi’s face, and forced her to look up, gazing into her eyes with deep intensity. “Take a good look. Really look—is my face that hilarious?”
Lin Zixi stifled her laughter and shook her head.
Ye Can held her face firm, locking eyes. “Then look properly. Keep looking until you won’t laugh anymore.”
Ye Can paused, then added, “Lin Zixi, this is just a story you wrote. Once you’re in that costume, you’re not you anymore—and neither am I.”
“You’re a character in the story. You Wang’s Gantang. Her Beauty.”
As the screenwriter, Lin Zixi was always the one giving notes to others. She’d never dreamed someone would lecture her on her own play.
Staring at Ye Can’s earnest expression, Lin Zixi nodded. “Got it. I’ve pulled myself together—I won’t break again.”
Ye Can still cradled her face, utterly serious. “Then look at me while you do. Don’t look away. Once you’re set, we’ll continue.”
Lin Zixi’s eyes widened as she stared unblinking at Ye Can. They were so close, it felt like a kiss was inevitable any second.
As she stared, Lin Zixi felt her ears burn like they’d been licked by flames. Embarrassed, she called out, “Ye Can, staring like this is weird. Let go—let me walk it off?”
She tried to pull away, but Ye Can huffed, straightened her head, and held her in place. “Not a chance. You stay until you’re used to this face.”
With no choice, Lin Zixi stood there, locked in a staring contest with Ye Can.
Just then, Jiang Yue finished up with the B-unit and strolled over. She saw them—you holding my face, me holding yours, glaring big eyes at little—and snorted with laughter. “What game is this? Looks fun?”
Lin Zixi finally swatted Ye Can’s hands away and shot Jiang Yue a helpless look. “Fun? More like wrangling a kid. What are you doing here? Weren’t you on B-unit?”
Jiang Yue took the thermos from her assistant, sipped the steaming red date and goji berry tea, winked at Lin Zixi, and grinned. “Wrapped. Came to watch the show.”
Lin Zixi felt utterly speechless—and the pressure mounting. But luckily, Ye Can’s teasing had worn down most of her embarrassment. With Jiang Yue watching, her inner workaholic kicked in. After running a few more takes, Lin Zixi nodded to Yu Ming: ready to shoot.
Jiang Yue set down her thermos, crossed her arms in front of the camera, and watched intently.
After the banquet, You Wang brought Gantang back to the Royal Palace and housed her in the king’s own bedchamber. Within half a month, the ministers bombarded her with memorials, accusing her of seizing others’ wives, wallowing in debauchery and tyranny.
You Wang ignored them all.
That next early spring, with corpses littering the Royal Capital from famine, the ministers’ petitions turned their spears on the Beauty at the king’s side.
In the grand hall, the officials raged passionately, blaming the capital’s dead on the Beauty. “Seductive witch bringing calamity to the nation! Bewitching the sovereign, unleashing heavenly disasters, leaving the people destitute!”
You Wang found it hilarious. She lounged sideways on the throne, idly toying with her longsword, nodding now and then as if listening intently.
Midway through the righteous tirade, the official thrust his jade tablet toward the Beauty in the throne’s corner and spat, “You witch! Seducing the ruler, turning the rear palace into a den of lust! The people’s fury boils—you deserve execution, hacked to pieces a thousand times over!”
Hearing this, You Wang nodded vigorously, sat up, and clapped slowly. “Well said. Very well said.”
She rose, sword in hand. “People’s fury boiling… hacked to pieces…”
She descended the jade steps, lifted the sword to her eyes, and pressed her thumb against the razor edge thoughtfully. “Indeed, that’s fitting.”
She brandished the blade at the fat-headed, big-eared official before her and frowned. “Don’t you think you’ve gotten obnoxiously fat lately?”
The official blinked in confusion. Before he could react, a flash of cold steel—and his head tumbled.
That face, frozen before shock could register, hit the floor with a heavy thud.
Spurt! Blood gushed from the bowl-sized wound at his neck, splattering You Wang head to toe.
Screams erupted in the hall as the officials panicked and fled in chaos.
You Wang’s youthful face was painted vivid red. Amid the acrid stench of blood, she wiped the streaming crimson from her cheeks and sneered, “Cold steel, hot blood. The weather’s turned—warm my blade with your blood.”
The ministers fled in terror. You Wang laughed coldly, sword raised, hacking wildly as she chased the once-righteous, potbellied officials in frantic rout.
They screamed while fleeing, “The king’s gone mad! The king’s lost it!”
But the sword-wielding You Wang pressed on relentlessly, pursuing them to the hall’s doors, felling several more before halting.
The once-bustling hall emptied in the span of a single incense stick. Only mangled limbs lay strewn across the lavish rugs, blood pooling silently.
The Beauty sat poised in the hall, gazing past the scattered corpses at You Wang standing at the doors. Back to the hall, sword propped like a cane, You Wang stared at the dark horizon and burst into wild laughter.
Hearing that laugh, the Beauty gripped the throne’s armrests tight. When the laughter finally ebbed, You Wang sighed deeply and muttered, “Boring…”
Shoulders slumped like a dejected pup, she dragged her bloodied sword toward the palace depths.
The Beauty on the throne watched her listless back, hesitated several times, then sighed softly and followed.
Her steps were steady, deliberately skirting the bloodied rugs on the floor. She trailed You Wang’s figure all the way to the palace depths.
She watched as You Wang gripped her sword, shedding her kingly robes while walking. Reaching the snow-blanketed courtyard, she kicked off her boots. Now in just white wide-sleeved robes, she plunged the bloodied blade deep into the vast white snow.
The blood stained the snow crimson. Only after a long while did You Wang retrieve the sword, wander under a barren plum tree, snap off a branch, crush its twigs to make a wipe, and slowly clean the congealed blood from the blade.
From a distance, the Beauty watched You Wang polish her sword. After a moment’s hesitation, she approached.
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