"Scour the remnants of the barbarians and establish the imperial capital; dragons soar and phoenixes dance, their might towering high;
To the left, the sea encircles it, a belt beneath the heavens; to the right, Taihang embraces it, its mountains forming myriad rings.
Halberds and spears make the Nine Borderlands' fortresses peerless; the attire and crowns of ten thousand nations bow before the emperor's benevolence;
In an age of peace, the people rejoice in a Huaxu world; may the golden realm endure forever beneath the sun's radiance."
Chen Luo spread out the paper, dipped his brush in ink, drew a deep breath, and began wielding it to write the story in his mind.
The original story was set against the backdrop of the Ming Dynasty. Chen Luo had originally intended to make some changes and set it in Great Xuan instead, but after thinking it over, he abandoned the idea.
The story was simple: a courtesan and a heartless man, yet her final leap, born of grief and fury, made her impossible to forget.
Du Shiniang Sinks the Treasure Chest in Anger!
This story was taken from Feng Menglong's Admonitions Against Worldly Ways of the Ming Dynasty. It told of the famous courtesan Du Shiniang buying her freedom and seeking true love, entrusting herself to the National University student Li Jia. But Li Jia was weak and selfish by nature. Although he was sincere toward Du Shiniang, he yielded to the Ritualistic Teachings, and, egged on by the wealthy young master Sun Fu, ultimately sold Du Shiniang for a thousand taels of silver. Du Shiniang pretended to agree. At the moment of the formal transaction, she opened the Treasure Chest before everyone, denounced the villains and the faithless man, then leaped into the river with the Treasure Chest in her