By the river, the night was deep.
A light drizzle had begun that evening, brushing gently against their faces, cool and pleasant in the late summer.
The bicycle rolled leisurely along the riverside road. A voice drifted faintly through the air: at Qiu Wuji's request, Chu Ge was telling her the story of the Magpie Bridge reunion on Qixi.
A girl in this world simply had to know these stories, right?
"The story of Qixi? Well, it goes like this... Long ago, there was an honest, kindhearted cowherd..."
Qiu Wuji thought it would be a beautiful story. Its opening made her feel it was just a little like her and Chu Ge.
An immortal maiden and a mortal man.
But as she listened, the romantic anticipation in her heart began to sour. "Hey, this cowherd stole her clothes? You call that honest and kindhearted?"
"Um... that's how the story goes."
"You made it up, didn't you?"
"I've written so many books, and I've never written a protagonist like that. I really didn't make this up... People have different values in different eras. As for why people in your world are relatively respectful toward women, that's because I wrote it based on my values. If I'd actually followed ancient times, things wouldn't be nearly so nice..."
Qiu Wuji considered this with a dark expression. "Seems about the same to me. The cowherd stole her clothes, and you stole my stockings."
Chu Ge: "?"
Seemingly realizing that her comparison wasn't quite right either-Chu Ge really was quite respectful toward her, and thankfully he wasn't like the cowherd-Qiu Wuji huffed. "Anyway, if it were me, one slap and that cowherd's head would..."
"Be smashed to pieces, right?" Chu Ge looked heartbroken. "I clearly wrote a sword immortal. How did she turn out like