Siyue Town
Not Sure When

Siyue Town was a quaint town sitting on the outskirts of Buzhi Forest. It was a town so modest, and so compact, four often appeared like six, and six tasted like twelve. 

If one sought the life of this town, they'd be directed through narrow streets, bordered by cluttered stalls and dull decor.

It sucked big time. 

As for the people who littered that street…they also sucked, and don't even ask about the food. Bland! 

There really wasn't much else to say about this unexciting destination. 

And yet, despite all these discrepancies, one thing stood out brighter than the scowls that followed.

A man, best known as the story's protagonist and our story's dear princess, Tao Hua. 

His face dropped, staring ahead with clear displeasure. Despite his twisted expression, he was utterly peerless in his beauty. 

But the town didn't rejoice; in fact, they actually hated him for it…and other things. When he'd run by, they'd often roll their eyes and scoff a few unsatisfactory words. 

Those words? 

"Village Letdown." 

Tao Hua had gotten used to the nickname "Village Letdown". It actually came in many flavours: Good-for-Nothing, Useless Brat, and his absolutely favourite "Master Tao's Greatest Mistake." 

And sometimes their insults would border on words better left unsaid!

But Tao Hua wasn't a fool; he learnt it was better to avoid it than entertain the jaded villagers.
So, he pushed through the crowd, paying the whispering wives no mind, but halted at an unfortunate and not-so-unprecedented event.

The issue? People, all standing in the middle of a walkway. Not only was this crowd mindless, but they were also blind to the begging of this small man.

Tao Hua waited, and waited, and oh, would you look at that, he still waited! And as he did, he impatiently bounced on his heels with his begs and pleas falling on deaf ears. 

Their inability to read the room wasn't just aggravating, but it nestled right under Tao Hua's skin. See, if it were him, he'd be yelled at, berated even.

But them?

They could do whatever they wished! As long as the village liked them, no one would complain. Rich coming from a town that loved complaining.

To make matters worse for this whimsical princess, none of the dull villagers ever sided with him, so he was shit out of luck.

And the longer they ignored him, the more likely he was to be noticed. Irony dressed in traditional clothing, best said. And like all things annual, that irony would sound loudly to Tao Hua's detriment.

Loud snapping filled the air, bouncing off each grey building, and if Tao Hua tried to act like he didn't hear it, the snapping would only get louder. 

Each time Tao Hua hurriedly tried to squeeze past, he'd be met with an unpleasant shout.
All he could do was let out a sigh, just as the unrelenting litany of unholy hostility moved onto its second step.

"Think he's gone deaf? Should I be louder?" said an old voice, both deep and raspy. "Lemme try—KID! How does Master Tao handle him?"

"Master Tao is just happy to have him distracted, Father," said another voice. This one was younger in tone; however, still masculine. From the sound of jingling coins, it was clear he was the one manning whatever stall stood behind Tao Hua. "Spoke to him the other day after his return from the Imperial Capital. Our Lordship said, and I quote, 'He'll be sent off soon.'"

"Huh…wonder what that means," replied the merchant. He returned to his questionable hobby of snap, snap, snap, nearly causing Tao Hua to rip out his hair at the repetition. "He just turned of age, right? Right?"

But there was no response, assuming the son didn't know.

"Eh, useless. I'll find out!"

In the merchant's persistence, Tao Hua was left with no other choice but to quell the situation, lest it got out of hand. So, he took one longing stare upward. The peach reflected each drifting cloud, lonesomely travelling along the blue sky.

Guess being oblivious isn't in the books for the day. Tao Hua thought through each attempt at yelling his name. Oh well.

"What a waste of a son. Of course Master Tao refuses to bring the kid around," said the man. However, his voice didn't sound mad, nor annoyed. It was amused, and even more so with his next statement. "He'd be better off with a daughter at this rate."

Tao Hua cringed, but his moment of grievance was cut short by a more demanding scream.

"VILLAGE LETDOWN!"

Fortunately, this screech was so loud it grabbed the attention of the barricade, and startled them off to the edges of the street. And finally, the path was cleared! Of course, the caveat was that these people moved merely to hide behind their tattered fans and watch the show.

 After a quiet groan, Tao Hua's annoyance was promptly replaced with a look of strained delight. He twirled around and popped back into place, causing his robe to flutter outward and fall like a wandering jellyfish. During his performance, he made sure to focus on one key detail, an important one.

The book he once held to his chest was now hidden behind his back.

The scene before Tao Hua presented three people all stationed at a terrible-looking stall. The merchant, dressed in poverty's beige, sat next to it, and was in the middle of his arm getting slapped. He didn't seem at all bothered, however, and neither did the woman enacting it.

It was playful, rather.

"Oh, don't involve him! Master Tao already has enough on his plate. Why add more?" said the woman, just as the son reached over and carefully steadied her basket. "He and Gui Chang are already drowning in preparations for the ceremony."

"Ceremony or not, a man's gotta answer to his elder. That's a clear disgrace." He reached up his hands, and with one final snap, the merchant yelled, "Get over here!"

Didn't they say I'd be better exchanged for a girl? Shouldn't that mean I don't have to answer to my elders?

Alas, there was no reasoning with the unreasonable.

"Yes, Elder Sir? What seems to be the issue today?" asked Tao Hua through the gritting of his teeth and a fake smile. He dared not approach the stall, and this action alone would make the merchant shake his head.

"He really can't hear!" he glanced over to the woman once before cupping his hands over his mouth. "I said: Get over here! Is it really that hard for you to understand directions?"

Of course—Tao Hua resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Well, it was more like he was used to these people. They were like clockwork; except, the clock couldn't fucking tell the time.

Tao Hua rocked to and fro, trying to keep up the act of tolerance. "Oh no, I like it here, Elder Sir. It's nice and warm."

"Eh, whatever. Answer me this, kid—did you just turn twenty?" The merchant momentarily turned to the son. "I'm sure of it. Right? He just turned twenty?"

His son, completely lost, just stared at his father with a face that screamed, "How should I know?!" But instead of replying, he just shrugged in response and turned back to the stall. Tao Hua liked that approach—therefore, he made the choice to cut this useless conversation short!

Gradually side-stepping, he answered, "Yup! Sure did! A few weeks ago!"

"Then it's time to start acting it. Do your father a favour and go make a name for yourself—instead of just sitting in his estate all day, reading those useless things." The merchant's hand flung into the air. "Go on—you're already taking up too much room."

This was enough to satiate the hungry stares, prompting each onlooker to whisper amongst themselves. Though Tao Hua was already used to this treatment, it didn't prevent him from reacting.

His shoulders deflated at the state of his now weakened smile. Instead of facing the merchant, Tao Hua hesitated and filled the silence by tracing the grout of each brick, and only when he was ready, he'd quietly reply, "I…I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

The merchant didn't like that response, and thus, he flew off in a rampage of words better left unsaid. Tao Hua endured one berating insult after another, well accustomed to the personality of this merchant. It was better to entertain the masses with responses as simple as "mhm" or "oh yeah?"

What he would do during this time, however, was zone-out. Tao Hua twiddled his fingers around the book, travelling off to lands far away. It was a fortress built around his emotions, but it wasn't always a well-built one and often fractured.

Amid the yelling and dissociation, Tao Hua thought, How nice it must be to be there and not here.

All in reference to a book he recently read. This book involved a princess cast into slumber by a witch. It was an unfortunate story, but the thing about well-constructed fairytales was that in order to reach the good, one must first scour the bad. The princess would be saved by a dashingly handsome prince and she'd live the rest of her life happy.

Tao Hua liked the idea of being a prince; therefore, he'd submerged deeper into the daydream. This would make his impatience ever more evident with his excitement on display; bubbling up and pouring out all at once. 

"It was nice talking to you, Elder sir! Good luck with your rolls…? and stuff."

Another twirled, and Tao Hua was off once more! He didn't offer the merchant or gawkers a final reaction; he just bolted down that busy street. 

In fact, he really didn't care!

Kind of. 

Tao Hua long accepted that maybe these villagers had a point. In every situation, there was always a common denominator. Which meant only one thing: Tao Hua was the common denominator, and thus deserved every snarky insult or complaint thrown his way.

It wasn't always that way, though. As a teenager, the berating actually peeved him, and he'd typically respond with indignation—the type that had one shove their fists to their side and over-explain.

The truth?

No one wanted an explanation. Tao Hua quickly understood this as he matured, and stopped feeding into the insults, lest he wished to egg them on more.

In fact, he accepted that he was different. Stories often embraced different; celebrated, even. This was Tao Hua's saving grace and the first step in his survivalist's pamphlet of detachment.

To escape these harsh realities, he'd travel elsewhere in prose, and each night, he'd live out every story in his mind.

It made the nightmares tolerable, and living wasn't such an unpleasant experience.
This acceptance was best expressed through Tao Hua's way of coping: If the people of this town didn't want him, then some book tossed aside did.

In this dream, Tao Hua could craft a reality of his greatest desires. A world where people actually cared about him—not one where a child stood in the middle of a room, crying, without a single adult to console him. And it certainly wasn't a world where the only family to show this princess an ounce of love left him behind.

In this world of make-believe, only Tao Hua had the key to enter. Therefore, giving up was unacceptable! All that was taught to him and his grandfather's legacy—that be tossed away and forsaken on the grounds of a town so ignorant. He couldn't do that.

It was a dreadfully comforting thought. But even that heartwarming thought would be cut short with the abrupt interruption of "not paying attention."

"Oof!"

Chapter end.

Art