ππππππ β¦
π πππ ππππ: Β Wei Zanying
πππππ: Historical/Xianxia OC
ππππππππ(π): Xiao Ying, Yingtao, Xiao Si
πππ: Β Verse Dependent
ππππππ: Β Female (she/her)
πππππππ: Β Human, ghost
π πππ ππππππ: Β l.i k.aixin
ππππππ: Secondary, open for interactions/shipping
πππππππππβ¦
Wei Zanying isn't the name she was born with. Long before she had a real name she was only Wei Xiao Si, the unnamed fourth daughter of a poor family, a skinny, dirty child that sat at the street corner day after day, collecting the measly coins of the sympathetic passersby. Her parents worked by didn't make enough to make ends meet for such a large family, and she had to help her siblings make up the difference. She found her own fun in it, liking to sing - it made her feel a little bigger than her little life, and she made more money than her siblings did despite being one of the younger ones. Locals and those traveling through alike took notice of the little girl with the large voice.
It was in this way that she was sold at the age of seven to the leader of an all female theatre troop. It was the only choice, given that the family was in a tight spot for the coming winter. Her parents only signed fifteen years of her life away, rather than her whole life - she'll learn to be grateful for this years later, and only then will she really forgive her parents for giving her away, since at the time she was too young to really understand. The troop leader, Madame Fu, a single woman with hardly any living family, became like her second mother - if you ask her, years later, she would say that whatever gripes they had with each other, Madame Fu was more like a parent for her growing up than anyone else.
Madame Fu named her new charge "Zanying." A true artisan, under her tutelage, Zanying learned how to perform. From music to dance to acrobatics to specific styles of theatre, Madame Fu left no detail unturned in her education. As their audience was largely bored court and noble people who had no other entertainment but the pursuit of art and meaning, she was even taught to read, to read music, and some basic martial art forms to incorporate into her dances. With the troop, she traveled to the capital.
Zanying became the rising star of the troop as she came of age, thanks to her voice and her versatility. Her name started booking the troop gigs - in circles that enjoyed the theater, she became a subject of admiration and discussion. She made a lot of money - some sums of which she was allowed to keep - and met many people from all walks of life, gaining rich and powerful admirers. Her life was starting to get too large for her again, but she enjoyed the perks celebrity brought her, and more importantly, the buoyancy - she wanted to ride it up and up.
Madame Fu disagreed with her ambition and attitude - making clear that actors should be focused on their craft, that Zanying is a vessel for her art and she shouldn't be too focused on her personal gains. Strong-willed and stubborn, Zanying persisted. Their disagreements escalated, to the point where they fought frequently.
Until after a performance, Zanying was accused of trying to seduce a noble woman's husband when she had merely been trying to talk him into raising funds to build a more permanent theatre. Madame Fu never asked if she'd done what was accused of her. She simply slapped her then and there, and sent her to the temple in the back of the house as punishment. Despite it not having been the full length of her contract, Zanying ran away with her savings the very next day. Madame Fu never looked. She never said anything about it either. Zanying never heard from her directly.
Instead of heading home, Zanying decided to make a living in the capital. Her savings lasted her awhile but eventually ran out and so she had to take up her old trade of singing in the street corner, where she was discovered quickly by one of her previous avid listeners, a business minded young lady of new money and some rank who took her home for a short while, and eventually decided to invest in a theatre house with Zanying as the leading lady.
So Wei Zanying returned to the scene and immediately shot back into the heavens. On her own turf, at her own theatre - she quickly became the brightest star in the sky, the most beautiful and astounding spectacle, the talk of the town, the goddess of many hearts. Her arrangement with her patron made them both rich. Her fame gave her some amount of freedom. She performed for renowned artists, wizened old scholars, nobles, royals, even. Her favor was a symbol of status and taste. Despite the rumors that seem to plague a woman of this profession with such fame and capable of causing such turbulence in society - it seems like she was living at the peak of a fairy tale life.
She wanted to retire at some point. Maybe get married, maybe have children, maybe find her family if she feels steady about it. Find Madame Fu and speak to her again now that she's older, seen more, understood better. She might have had that life - until it all came crashing down. After a particularly successful opening night, she's found dead at her dressing room table. A sudden heart spasm, and when she fainted she knocked her head on the corner of the table. A shame, a pity - her admirers mourned.
Only she knows that it isn't true. She can't remember what happened in the last moments of her life - who killed her, why. When she comes back to consciousness as a ghost - all she knows is that something has to be done about it before she can go.
