"You want to write a story?" Yue Xiaochan hovered over Xue Mu's shoulder, her breath tickling his ear. "About us?"
"Not about us," Xue Mu corrected, dipping his brush into the ink. "About perception."
He sat in the quiet study of the Hundred Flowers Manor. The morning sun filtered through the lattice windows, illuminating the blank scroll before him.
"The world hates the Star-Moon Sect because they think we are monsters," Xue Mu explained. "They think we eat babies and seduce husbands for sport. We can't change that with a press release. We need to change the archetype."
"Arche-what?"
"The mold. The mental image." Xue Mu's eyes narrowed. "We need a story where the 'Demoness' isn't the villain. She is the victim. She is the tragic heroine who loves too deeply in a world that forbids it."
He began to write.
Title: The White-Haired Maiden
The story wasn't new to him. It was a classic from his previous life. But here, in the Great Zhou Dynasty, it was revolutionary. It was a Romeo and Juliet story, but with swords.
He wrote about Lian Nishang, a fierce, beautiful warrior raised by wolves, a woman of the "Unorthodox Sects." She was wild, untamed, and misunderstood. He wrote about Zhuo Yihang, a noble disciple of the righteous Wudang Sect, bound by tradition and duty.
He wrote about their forbidden meeting in the moonlight. He wrote about the tension between Love and Sect, between the Heart and the Dao.
Yue Xiaochan read the first few paragraphs. At first, she was cynical. "Raised by wolves? That's unhygienic."
But as Xue Mu's brush flew across the paper, describing the first fight, the sparks of attraction, the biting dialogue... her cynicism melted.
She leaned closer. Her breathing slowed.
When Xue Mu wrote the scene where Zhuo Yihang hesitates to defend Lian Nishang against his own martial brothers, Yue Xiaochan slammed her hand on the table.
"That coward!" she hissed, her eyes blazing. "How can he claim to love her if he won't stand against the world for her?"
Xue Mu stopped writing and looked at her. "You're angry?"
"Of course I'm angry! She saved his life!"
"Good," Xue Mu smirked. "If you're angry, then the readers will be furious. And if they're furious, they're engaged."
"Don't stop!" she commanded, poking him. "What happens next?"
"That," Xue Mu said, setting down the brush, "is for the next issue."
"You..." Yue Xiaochan looked at him with genuine murder in her eyes. "You can't stop there! They're surrounded!"
"It's called a 'Cliffhanger', Xiaochan. It keeps them coming back."
"It's torture!"
"It's business."