Yao Wang.

As an artist and musician, only a few people can hear that name and be able to decipher that man from the many men who bear that same name. Most people would just remember his face. With long, black silk that outline the side of his face and poured down from his head like a waterfall; porcelain-kissed skin which is smooth to the touch; soft-pink lips, sweeter than honey, it was quite hard to forget him. But the most beautiful thing that stood out the most was his voice. Although what he did for a living didn't need his voice much, anyone who was anyone could get him to sing. Nobles, and even the emperor, would hire him to play his erhu for them and would even pay him extra to hear his voice. But he was a man of a few words and doesn't want the fame the gossiping nobles would bring.

He loved the peace and quiet and lived slightly far from the nearby city and lived only with his younger sister. Unlike many siblings, he and his sister, Mei, got along. When his parents died many years ago, they left a five-year old Yao and an infant Mei to fend for themselves. Luckily, Yao watched his mother and how she does her daily chores and cooking so when his mother and father left, he was able to take care of Mei and himself for many years. Although he was upset that his parents passed on without a goodbye and ever hearing Mei say her first words, he hid his pain so he and his sister can live in peace. Now at age twenty-one, Yao and sixteen-year old Mei continued to live together for many years. Although they got along, there are some disagreements they had. Recently, Mei had begun to find out about the wonders of love and romance. While Yao has never even loved another person other than his family, especially his sister in his life, Mei was beginning to grow boy-crazy. Whenever she begin to like someone, she daydreams and sometimes even ignored her brother's warning of possible "incidents" where she could end up bearing a complete stranger's child. Of course if that ever happens, Yao would simply threaten the boy to leave until his sister stop liking him. So any "incident" that involves bearing a child won't ever happen with Yao around. But Mei still daydreams about "happily-ever-afters" even though she knew life doesn't always work that way. Other than that, Yao and Mei have never argued about anything else. But Mei would always let out a teasing complaint about how her big brother acts like a mother than a sibling but Yao would always smile and shake his head. Yes, so far in life, everything was fine….

"Biiiiiiggggg Brrrooootttthhhhheeeeeerrrr!" Mei's excited squeal rang through the empty house.

"Aiyah! Mei-Mei! What's wrong?! Were you attacked?! Robbed?! Raped?! Molested?!" Yao quickly rushed over to see if his little sister showed any sign of harassment.

"No Gege! Look at this flyer!" Mei shoved the parchment in Yao's hands and quickly began dancing across the room with joy.

Reading the paper, Yao's eyes widened with surprise. It read:

To of the citizens of Beijing, your daughters, sisters, nieces, and/or cousins will have a chance of a lifetime! Two princes from distant lands, one from the North and one from the West, will come here to the capital city of China for the Qixi Festival in hopes of searching for a bride. Any women of any rank can come to this joyous event in hopes of marrying a royal and help strengthen ties between our neighbors. This will last until the princes have decided to marry a bride or the end of the month. Hopefully, both princes will have a Chinese girl as a wife. Every woman must meet in the heart of the city before the sun sets. Good luck to every girl in Beijing!

While Mei pranced around happily, Yao could only stare at the paper. Westerners coming to my homeland?! he thought. He glared at the paper in front of him. Although he hasn't lived for very long, he knew how these Westerners treated his country. They invaded, took, and ripped apart his beloved nation. Although none of these foreigners personally wronged him, he felt as if every time they harmed his country, the pain somehow went directly to him.

"Gege! Can't you see?! I could be married to a prince! And meeting him at the Qixi Festival!" Mei sighed dreamily, "Just think about how romantic it would be…."

"Who said you were going?" Yao grumbled, crushing the paper he was holding into a pulp.

"Come on Gege! This could be our chance to live without worrying about food or poverty!" Mei held her brother's hand gently and looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

"No. I will not let you marry a…a…foreigner. They're all barbarians! I can't imagine what they could do to nice, pretty, innocent girl like you." Yao closed his eyes and sighed. "I can't lose you. You are the only family I have left…."

"….Gege…." Mei held her brother's hand tightly.

"Mei?"

"Gege…you worked so hard to support us…I want to repay you by letting us live better lives than this…even if I can't marry a prince, my husband and I will work hard to help you."

Yao looked down at his sister. He couldn't believe this was the same girl he raised for sixteen years. What happened to the happy-go-lucky girl he knew for his whole life? His sister had made this promise before, but he kept his ground and stuck to his answer. Now he felt guilty for smothering her.

"I…guess you could go to the festival…" Before Yao could tell her what she has to do at the festival, he felt the wind knocked out of him and gasped.

"Aaah~! Xie Xie Gege! I can't believe it! I'm going to the festival! What am I going to wear?! Aaah~ so many choices! Mei ran up to her room, debating on what she is going to wear to the festival leaving Yao to wonder if what he just did was even sane.