The Last Queen of Zuansha pt 2

The play continued with the last-minute preparations of the wedding ceremony. The sky had grown dark, and Wu Ming was always seen praying or crying at the side. Even though she was depicted as strong-willed and stoic in front of the other characters, she kept on crying alone. It did not say why she cried, but the audience seemed to know what—or who—she was crying for.

At this point in the play, Sun Yin's fingers were laced with Lu Bang's. Her occasional tight grips were expected by the male who kept on checking up on the woman. It was his first time to learn of this tale; he did not even know that the Last Queen of Zuansha was the Bride of Corpses. Then again, there were odd things about the play. Who was the Whimsical One? Why did she celebrate her tenth husband?

The next scene showed Qin Feng entering the quarters of Wu Ming. He was not wearing his bright smile or his innocent look. He was wearing nothing but a white shirt that was disheveled and torn in places. The young actor even had skin-tone tights on to depict the nudity of the boy.

Since the concubine was last seen attending to last-minute decors of the palace, he stood alone in the room. He walked over her bed and uncovered a sword next to her pillow. He ran his finger across the blade and bled all over his hand. He then looked at the clean cream wall.

Lights out.

Sun Yin lowered her head before the lights went back on. Instead of white lights, red flashed on the stage. The child had run the blade across his chest and died on the concubine's bed. The words 'I tried to be brave' were written on the wall.

Lu Bang squeezed the maiden's hand. He could hear her cry away from the gaze of the people. Perhaps the pain was too unbearable for her to remember. Even the audience was shocked.

The lights flickered again, and Wu Ming was already in the scene. Instead of crying as she saw the boy, she only stood still. She walked to the boy and laid his body to the side. She took the sword out of the boy's body and caressed the dead boy's head. The head handmaiden walked in and saw the scene. She screamed and ran off to alert the guards. As if Wu Ming did not hear her, she even bent down to kiss the boy's forehead.

After the audience's shock, the play continued, clearing the mood by switching the lights back to white. In the king's quarters, Wu Ming stood in front of the king who had maidens clean his nails and do his hair while still in his dressing gown.

"I heard you killed the boy?" Wang Feizi spoke so nonchalantly as if the boy was just an insect.

"I am disgusted by the thought of someone basking in your skin other than me, my king." Wu Ming held onto her smile—her face was free from the grief that she had felt long before he died. The maidens shuddered at her words; more so with the king's.

"How unfortunate. That boy had a very loud screaming voice." The king chuckled. "You think you could do better than him, Wu Ming?"

"...I think I can, my king."

"Let's proceed with the marriage early. The enemy army is closing in." The king then raised his hand and shooed the concubine away. "Get into your wedding dress. The guards will carry your sedan from your room to mine."

Wu Ming only bowed and left. When she did, the lights dimmed once again. She faced the audience. "Whimsical One, can you hear me? Can you help me? The enemy army should be guided properly. Would you help them with our plans?" The lights went back on, and she was in her quarters. The handmaidens suited her in her wedding dress.

Lu Bang had to admit that the play was too dark for a celebration, but their crafts were on-point. Then again, why did they choose to show this side of forgotten history?

The wedding ceremony proceeded as normal, but the happy smiles that were supposed to be in the handmaidens' faces were cold. They all thought that it was Wu Ming who killed the child; neither did she deny it.

On their wedding night, the sounds of war were heard from the king's room. However, the king paid no attention as he tasted the neck of his new wife. He had a very maniacal expression as he tried to strip his wife by destroying her wedding dress.

"Ah, such bounty!" He cried out as he licked the collarbone of the new queen. He pulled back and took out a box from the side of their bed. He presented her the hairpin. Though it did not resemble the one Ren Junjie was able to find, it made a pretty fake jade hairpin. "This is for you, Wu Ming. The treasure I sought and fought to have. The treasure worth nine heads of kings hailed from our enemy kingdoms!

"Listen to those sounds for tomorrow, there shall be none. You are now my queen forever!" Wang Feizi seized the woman's body.

Wu Ming took and stared at the hairpin. "Did you also promise Qin Feng those words, my king? Before you tore him into pieces?" The king froze at her words. "He promised me he will be brave, and yet what is bravery of a delicate fourteen-year-old in front of a monster such as you?"

Before the king could talk, Wu Ming stabbed the king's eye with the hairpin. Sun Yin cringed; she remembered doing it through his throat and then from under the mouth, then through the ribs thrice. The king screamed so loud before Wu Ming stabbed him again at the throat. It was enough to kill him.

The audience was chattering. The depictions were on-point—even the most violent scenes didn't come off gory or sloppily executed.

"Well done, Wu Ming." A voice came from somewhere, and the actress looked at the audience. "How strong was your hatred for you to accomplish this? All the ten kings you married are now dead. You had won my... little wager."

"Oh, Whimsical One, you have no idea how they slaughtered my family." Wu Ming stood up and acted as if she was facing her true enemies. She began screaming in hysteria, slowly descending into madness. "Every drop of blood in my body flows through my veins just to see the day that the Society will pay for their crimes! Guide me, oh, Whimsical One! How shall I receive my reward?" She raised her arms to the ceiling.

"Ah, I had already given it to you, my little girl." The Whimsical One laughed out. "Now show me the army you promised, Wu Ming! Show me the wave of terror you wished to instill in the hearts of the Society!"

Footsteps came to the door, and so Wu Ming ran to the other side of the stage as if fleeing. The lights went off as the props men sorted the area. The actress had to run across the entire dining hall as she 'fled' from her captors, laughing out in celebration. Soon, she entered the stage again and looked around before the lights revealed the backyard. She went to the other side and moved a lever as if bringing down the drawbridge.

"Wu Ming!" A yell came from that side, and a general of the enemy army came to her. He held her tight for a hug. "Wu Ming, my love! You survived!" He held her shoulders and panicked at her state. "What did that demon do to you?!"

The maiden only smiled maniacally at him before stabbing his neck with the same hairpin she used to kill the king. The general bled through his neck as he wriggled in pain. Wu Ming held her hand out as if casting an incantation.

"Rise, my child. For I now have eternal life and the power to give birth to you."

The actor slapped a mask on his face, turning him into an undead to the audience. The mask was superbly done and very believable. If his hands did not remain snow in color, they would have thought he was really a corpse. He also grew claws as he quickly placed long finger guards on his fingers. He roared like a corpse and ran outside the drawbridge.

Screams followed the undead general. Wu Ming leisurely walked to follow him outside the stage. The general corpse then ran towards the opposite direction, 'killing' the incoming soldiers. The other enemy soldiers had also become the undead. Wu Ming walked into the scene again and had a red curtain cover her. When the curtain left, she was wearing her blood red hanfu. Every dead body she passed by started moving and turning into the undead.

Wu Ming stopped at the center of the stage. She raised her arms like announcing her impending victory. "Soon, the entire Zuansha will fall to my hands! Then all the other kingdoms that were graced by my presence! And all of their soldiers will become mine, then... I will destroy the Society! I will shatter all the hopes in their hearts just like the day they killed everyone I ever loved!

"I am the last queen of Zuansha, bride of the monster king of the west! I will be the only bride you all will ever fear!"

Curtains closed.