Chaoge, the Imperial Palace.
Shi Yan was playing the zither in Shouxian Palace.
Though he headed War Deception Bureau Six, playing the zither and composing music were his true specialties.
Daji lay on the bed, eating lychees out of sheer boredom. Several large tails showed hazily through the bed curtains, making for an especially alluring sight.
"This is my latest composition, Peace Across the Four Seas. Please review it, Your Majesty."
When Shi Yan finished playing, he kept his gaze straight ahead, took out a script, and handed it to Zi Shou.
Zi Shou flipped through two pages before losing all desire to read any further. Peace Across the Four Seas?
You dare say something like that in front of me?
"Change it. You must change it. Make it Turmoil Across the Four Seas."
"Turmoil Across the Four Seas?"
"Yes. The people unable to scrape together a living, human tragedy-understand? Make it as miserable as you can!"
"Tragedy..."
Shi Yan shook his head. He was not defying the order; he genuinely did not know how to write such a thing.
His previous opera scripts had all been adapted from actual events, rooted in everyday life and the lives of ordinary people. That was why he had abandoned Elegant Music to devote himself to vulgar opera. Nothing more to it: opera was more true to life and could influence the masses more effectively.
But tragedy? Our Great Shang is so wonderful. The people live in peace and work in contentment, with meat to eat and money to spend. They can get treatment when they fall ill, and even the birth rate has risen. Where would we find tragedy?
*Besides, even if there are tragedies, they are isolated cases. They do not reflect Great Shang's circumstances. How could we turn them into