Change the Fate of the Cannon Fodder

3

Song Feixiang sits in his throne feeling stunned. He can't tear his eyes away from the woman who has been monopolizing his mind. Feixiang gathers his composure, he knows that if he puts too much attention on her she will be hurt. The schemers will never let her get away. The only way for him to possess her and take her away is through the concubine selection. Feixiang prays that he can legitimately acknowledge her as the winner and taker her for his own. He would rather just bring her to him right away, but his Father and Mother would get involved.

Feixiang turns to the courtier and seemingly lazily says, "let the selection begin". The courtier respectfully bows towards him and announces the criteria for the selection. There are three rounds: the beauty, the arts, and the personal selection. The first round is quite simple, women are immediately weeded out if they are deemed not meeting the beauty requirement. This poses absolutely no problem for Tian Yi, he is the most gorgeous 'woman' here. The arts portion consists of each candidate coming up to show off their talents in music, dance, poetry, singing etc. One by one beautiful women take the stage and dazzle everyone with their skills. There are so many skilled women here, it seems like an impossible task for the palace attendants to eliminate the 'unworthy'. As the line of women heading up to perform dwindles, it is almost Tian Yi's turn.

[Host what are you going to do? Sing or play the qin?]

I will play the qin...Ni Ni do you have a qin I can buy from the store?

[Yes, but why? They will provide a qin here.]

Just show me the options

[There is a high class qin that transmits sound for up to 100 m and it's strings will never break. You also don't need to worry about it getting stolen or broken because it will restore itself back into your space. Luckily, no one else can use it either. But because it has all of these benefits it costs 2000 points. That's half of all the points you have! I told you these people are cheapskates. They'll hustle you out of all of your points! Are you sure you want it?]

Give it to me

[Okay Host]

Tian Yi seemingly takes out a guqin from behind him. It looks like he has had it all along. Looking up it is clearly his turn, so he gracefully glides up to the stage. When he sits with the qin on the stage he is given many dirty looks and jealous glares from the women. He can hear some of them cursing under their breath for him to fail, but his serene expression doesn't change. The manservant announces that Tian Yi is about to perform and so reluctantly everyone quiets down.

Ni Ni what do I play?

[Host, there isn't much I can tell you, but whatever you play has to connect with them or you won't win.]

What do you mean?

[What is music without feelings? What is music without soul? It may be beautiful to the ear but it is hollow. It may give people shallow smiles, but it is forgettable. Do you have anything you can give that will make you unforgettable? Never lose sight of the fact that you are playing for your man. Only play for your man. The rest of these hoes don't mean shit.]

Tian Yi takes a deep breath and places his fingers on the strings. He slowly plucks out a melody that is mellow but hollow but it twists into a light sweet sound that then speaks of deeper and more intense feelings. It incorporates laughter, anger, despair, amusement and grief, and when it ends it is once again hollow. All of the feeling seem to disappear. Tian Yi did the only thing he could, he didn't know how to play with feelings so he used the only thing he had left. All of the feelings that were quickly fading, he snatched them up and stitched them together. He played out his memories of a life that he wanted to keep alive, and as the music faded from the air, the last of his emotions disappeared. He, just like the music, became hollow.