The Woman Who Defeated the Moon
The Woman Who Defeated the Moon
"Welcome, General Yuan. I have been expecting you."
"I came because I was invited. Thank you for summoning me, sir."
"Now now, do not stand there. Come inside."
Escorted by his guard generals Ji Ling and Xu Rong, Yuan Shu made his visit.
Following Wang Yun's guidance, he entered the mansion.
Wang Yun was known for his integrity, but as a man who held the office of Minister of the Masses, one of the highest in the court, his private residence was by no means small.
In a reception room deep inside, a lavish banquet table had been laid.
The table was so laden that its legs seemed ready to buckle under the weight, and there Wang Yun began sharing a meal with Yuan Shu.
"Gulp."
"Don't even dream of it. We are on duty, are we not?"
"Nngh... I know. Who said otherwise?"
Ji Ling sat at the table partaking of the food but, being on a guard assignment, could not drink, while Xu Rong watched her with the eyes of a hawk.
After the Lü Boshe incident, Xu Rong had grown considerably more strict, and Ji Ling was left with no choice but to focus on the food and do her best to resist the temptation of the wine.
Yuan Shu smiled wryly at his subordinates before casually raising a cup of wine himself.
On the surface it looked as though he was simply seated at the table, but Wang Yun could tell in that moment.
Even so, Yuan Shu remained composed and unruffled...
One might say he had not let down his guard.
Even during a simple meal, Yuan Shu stayed alert. Watching him, Wang Yun felt once again that this man was no ordinary person, and for a while he continued the meal.
"The wine is excellent. I have traveled to many places and tasted many wines, but this is among the very finest."
"Heh heh, is that so? A famous vintage I had trouble obtaining through an acquaintance. I am relieved it suits your palate."
Some time passed, and the atmosphere had begun to warm when Wang Yun cautiously asked Yuan Shu.
"However, General Yuan, I have a small request. Might you grant it?"
"What is it, sir?"
"It is nothing much. I have an adopted daughter in my care, and she has personally asked to meet General Yuan at least once. She says she would like to show you a modest skill she has learned. Would that be acceptable?"
"An adopted... daughter... Well... I see no particular problem with it. I am merely a guest here. If it suits you, sir, then I have no objection."
"Thank you. Then..."
Although his words were agreeable, Yuan Shu seemed to betray a slight unease.
Consent had been given, however, so Wang Yun gave a light clap.
And then...
"!..."
"... Hm?"
"..."
A woman slowly entered the reception room.
The instant they saw her, not only Yuan Shu but also his two female generals wore faintly startled expressions.
Her hair gleamed like ebony, her skin was as pale as white jade, and her eyes shone like jewels with a green light.
Even Wang Yun, who saw her face every day, was often left reeling by her beauty, and now this adopted daughter appeared before them.
Diaochan.
As if a celestial maiden had descended from heaven,
she swept in with her robes fluttering and offered the guests a respectful salute.
"She is my adopted daughter. Her name is Diaochan."
"... I... see."
Yuan Shu replied to Wang Yun's words in a trembling voice.
Watching him begin to waver, just as he had anticipated, Wang Yun gave a quiet nod to himself.
'Indeed... No matter how extraordinary he is, even he cannot help being shaken before Diaochan's beauty.'
He had been somewhat worried, but the opening move seemed to have landed passably well.
As Wang Yun felt a sense of relief,
Diaochan, having finished her greeting, slowly began to dance.
*
There is a saying: "Sinking Fish and Falling Goose, Eclipsing the Moon and Shaming the Flowers."
Fish sink (Sinking Fish), geese fall (Falling Goose).
The moon hides (Eclipsing the Moon), flowers bow their heads (Shaming the Flowers).
This refers to four peerless beauties in Chinese history.
It means that even heaven, earth, and nature were moved by their unreal beauty.
Xi Shi of the Sinking Fish: when she looked into a river to wash her face, the reflection was so beautiful that fish forgot even to swim and sank beneath the water.
Wang Zhaojun of the Falling Goose: the sight of her playing the zither, longing for her hometown, was so lovely that a passing goose fell from the sky.
Yang Guifei of Shaming the Flowers: even doing laundry in a lotus pond, she was such a peerless beauty that even the lotus blossoms felt ashamed and bowed their heads.
And...
The person standing before my eyes right now.
Diaochan of Eclipsing the Moon: said to be so incomparably beautiful that even the moon in the sky felt defeated and hid itself behind the clouds.
In the Records, she was originally a handmaiden to Dong Zhuo, and the name Diaochan itself was a creation of the Romance, but the fact that she was a great beauty is unmistakable.
Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu, bound as father and son, fell out over her, and in the end Dong Zhuo was killed by Lü Bu's hand.
The Romance dramatized it further: following the Chain Stratagem conceived by Wang Yun, she deliberately approached Lü Bu and Dong Zhuo, sowed discord between them, and in the end, just as in the Records, Dong Zhuo was successfully removed by Lü Bu's hand.
And the starting point of that stratagem was exactly what was happening to me then...
Lü Bu, invited by Wang Yun, meets Diaochan and falls in love at first sight, unable to resist her beauty.
To be honest, from the moment I received Wang Yun's invitation, I had a hunch.
But actually seeing her before me,
I could not help but feel dazed for a moment.
I had wondered just how confident in her looks one must be to construct such a plan...
but the instant I saw Diaochan in front of me, I could do nothing but nod in agreement.
I had seen many beautiful women up to now: Dong Zhuo, Empress Dowager He, and others.
On top of that, people like Cao Cao and Lady Yuan Shao were faces that could hold their own anywhere.
Even Ji Ling and Xu Rong, who were right beside me, had reasonably pretty features.
But.
Diaochan's beauty, right before my eyes, conveyed something on a wholly different level from theirs.
Her eyes seemed to sparkle,
her nose was straight and refined, her lips small, delicate, and red.
The countless beauties I had seen in media in my previous life, who made a living off their looks, would be lightly chewed up and swallowed by this. Simply gazing at her gave a rapturous feeling as if my very soul was being drained away.
Diaochan possessed a beauty that seemed not of this world.
To be honest, her figure leaned more toward slender than voluptuous, but even this trait blended with her mysterious beauty and served to highlight her innocent charm.
Diaochan was truly worthy of the description "Beauty That Could Topple a Kingdom."
Looking at her, I could only inwardly nod.
I had always thought that both Lü Bu, who betrayed his father over a woman, and Dong Zhuo, who could not yield that one thing and ruined himself, were equally idiots...
But with this level of beauty, totally understandable.
It was not that those two were idiots; Diaochan's beauty was simply cheating.
Just watching her dance gracefully before me right now, I could hardly tell whether this was Wang Yun's reception room or the celestial paradise.
Add in pouring wine, deploying flirtatious charm, sharing a bed, and sweetly wrapping a man around her finger?
If a woman like this wags her tail and a man does not fall, then he is not a man but a eunuch.
Even Ji Ling and Xu Rong, who were both women themselves, could not hide their admiration beside me, so how much worse would it be for a man with everything still attached?
As if enchanted by something, for a while I simply watched Diaochan's dance without a single thought in my head.
And a little later.
The moment Diaochan's dance, which had captivated everyone present, came to an end,
I managed to collect my wits in a hazy state, as though waking from a dream.
-Clap clap clap
"... That was... magnificent. Truly exceptional."
The applause came automatically, and the words of praise were genuine, untainted by pretense.
I now fully understood the heart of that Lü Bu from a certain Three Kingdoms comic who cried out, "She is just like a celestial maiden!"
And toward me, Diaochan approached carefully with feather-light steps.
"Allow me to greet you once more. My name is Diaochan. I am deeply moved to meet General Yuan, the hero of the realm, like this."
"Hearing you say so only embarrasses me. It is your beauty, my lady, that can truly be called Eclipsing the Moon."
"Eclipsing the Moon... That you would esteem me so highly, I do not know where to put myself."
Diaochan smiled elegantly and lightly shaded her cheek with her sleeve.
Seeing her cheeks begin to flush pink, I felt as though my heart had dropped with a thud in that single moment.
It was as if I was being shown once again what it truly means to lose your senses in the presence of supreme beauty.
"How is it, General Yuan? Does our daughter please you?"
"Hmm... How could she not? With such beauty and talent, anyone would be pleased."
"Haha, I am glad to hear you say so."
Wang Yun gave a pleased laugh at the praise for his daughter.
Just then...
"In truth... For some time now, our daughter has admired General Yuan. You are the hero who saved the country and the heir to the greatest noble house of the Han, how could it be otherwise? In that regard, if you are amenable, I was hoping to send our Diaochan to the General..."
'... Huh?'
Wang Yun's cautious inquiry came in.
The moment I heard it, I felt as if I had been doused with cold water, the dreamy afterglow vanishing.
"Send her to me... Surely you do not mean... you are proposing marriage?"
"Heh heh, marriage... Well, if the General wishes it, that could be done, but I was not speaking of anything so grand. I simply ask that you keep her by your side and allow her to serve you."
Wang Yun spoke with laughter in his voice at the mention of marriage.
At any rate, since the story was about giving a beauty like her to me, perhaps in ordinary circumstances...
No, any man with normal inclinations would have lost his head and happily accepted.
But the instant I heard it, a single sentence automatically began playing in my mind.
'Ah... fuck. Here? The Chain Stratagem is triggering right here?'
The situation I was in now matched almost perfectly what Lü Bu had faced in the Romance.
It wasn't completely impossible that it was unrelated, but Wang Yun's words instinctively made my skin crawl.
Even the fact that I had been half-entranced just moments ago by Diaochan's monstrous charm threw gasoline onto this sense of alarm.
On top of that, the face of Dong Zhuo,
who had spoken of marriage just a few days earlier, suddenly sprang vividly to mind.
Hugging my wariness to my chest, I first concealed those feelings as much as possible and asked cautiously,
"... May I ask one thing?"
"What is it?"
"Why are you doing this?"
Tell me, why are you doing this to me?