No one who meets Zhou Qiang doubts she is a peerless peony, nurtured with gold and silver by noble hands. "Why…
No one who meets Zhou Qiang doubts she is a peerless peony, nurtured with gold and silver by noble hands.
"Why would someone like her be at Velvet Shade?
"This question puzzles many guests of the pleasure quarter, even novice disciples. Her birthright, they assume, should have placed her beyond the reach of common folk.
Zhou Qiang never answers. She dislikes the question, as it drags her back to that unforgettable banquet. Though she's attended hundreds since, the one from her eighth year haunts her.
It was the fifth year of the Yonglong era. Young Zhou Qiang had accompanied her mother to Fuzhou for a family visit. Relatives hosted a grand feast for them. Zhou Qiang loved banquets—the dragon-carved halls, the gilded splendor, but most of all, the unexpected, dazzling performances. This one surpassed all expectations—soldiers stormed in, turning the mansion into a bloodbath. The nobles, moments earlier so imperious, became no different from the decorated meats on the platters.
A random act of mercy from a Velvet Shade disciple saved Zhou Qiang and her mother. The pampered "flowers" rejoiced at their escape, unaware the real nightmare had just begun. Fuzhou had been shattered by a coup, an entire dynasty crumbled overnight.
It's hard to imagine what the delicate girl endured to flee Fuzhou and return to Guangling—helpless, reliant only on her wits. The journey, equal in distance to the one there, felt infinitely longer... every step seared into her memory.
When her aged father finally held his recovered daughter, the child no longer knew how to cry. The banquet and the journey had proven everything she'd trusted, status, wealth, even love, was fragile. Determined never to be vulnerable again, she remembered the only survivor from that night: the Velvet Shade disciple. So she knocked on their door.
Nine years later, her talent made her the previous master's prized disciple. Nine years after that, the name of Revelry Hall's mistress echoed across the land.
Decades passed, with banquets rising and falling, guests and settings changing. But one thing remained: the danger and intrigue beneath the glamour. Take the current Heroes Assembly—the Faceless Ones' list could spark chaos if mishandled. But Zhou Qiang had changed. She was no longer the trapped girl at the mercy of others. She was the master of Velvet Shade capable of altering fates. She was the architect of the banquet, the hand pulling the strings.