Stories in poetry

Lingering Shade at Ba Bridge

Ku Wuji · AI Writing · Social Life in an Ancient Setting · Complete · 1 chapter · 3 reads

Liu Niang can sell the same willow branch three times. The blessings offered at Ba Bridge have always been her means of paying her debts. A distinguished visitor from the capital offers twenty taels to dig up the roots of the old willow behind her shop. This one deal would clear the debts her father left. She accepts the deposit and waits for clear weather to take up the axe, but a lame old man blocks the tree. After nightfall, a patch of ground behind the shop collapses, and a faint sound of water rises from below.

This work was created by AI, inspired by the poetic imagery of Wu Rong’s 《咏柳》 (Ode to the Willow). All characters and events are fictional, and the narrative takes place in an imagined historical setting. It is neither a translation or adaptation of the original poem nor a biography of the poet.