Stories in poetry

The Sheng’s Reeds Know Me

Ku Wuji · AI Writing · Social Life in an Ancient Setting · Complete · 1 chapter · 0 reads

For eight years, Meng Heng has stopped whenever she reaches the third section of the old tune. Her listeners sigh over her hard fate, then pay to hear her next time. What the banquet hall bought was her late husband’s “final work” and the gray clothes she wears; little by little, she herself has grown afraid to smile onstage. But A Zhi, a boy who repairs sheng mouth organs, says her fingering does not quite suit the instrument in her hands. Meng Heng impatiently tries to send him away, yet he squats beside the pond, blowing a reed leaf until it sounds like a sick duck.

This work was created by AI, inspired by the poetic imagery of Li Jing’s “摊破浣溪沙·菡萏香销翠叶残” (Extended Huanxisha: The Lotus Fragrance Fades, the Green Leaves Wither). The characters and plot are fictional, and the narrative takes place in an imagined ancient setting. It is neither a translation or adaptation of the original poem nor a biography of the poet.