Chapter 173: Beauty Ranking No.7: Bao Si

Beauty Ranking No. 7: Bao Si

Era: Western Zhou (Zhou Youwang period)

Title: Iceberg Beauty, A Thousand Gold for One Smile

The ranking scroll appears, and the light and shadow on the left side of the golden list shift.

First, an ancient, austere painting unfurls:

The continuous Li Mountain, with towering rammed‑earth beacon towers standing on the peaks, their smoke rising straight, piercing the dim sky.

The image has the texture of bronze inscriptions, full of the antiquity and solemnity of the 8th century BC.

Next, the view focuses on a high platform atop Li Mountain.

On the platform, a king in black ceremonial robes and a crown with tassels can be faintly seen, alongside a stunning woman draped in splendid deep robes, her face veiled in frost.

Below, in the distance, dust swirls as the vague shapes of vassal troops rush in panic, banners askew, men and horses weary.

When they realize the platform holds only a king drinking and reveling with a beauty, the shock, anger, and embarrassed humiliation emanating from the scene seem to transmit across time, space, and light.

On the high platform, the woman, ever as cold as ice, sees this chaotic, comical tableau, and the corner of her mouth subtly lifts into a slight curve.

That very curve is deliberately magnified and rendered, like thawing ice rivers and spring returning to the earth—stunningly beautiful yet exuding a chilling, heart‑pounding cold.

Heavenly sound rises again, this time carrying a distant, mythic cadence as if recounting primeval legends:

"She, Bao Si. A name tightly bound to the downfall of a dynasty."

"Her birth was shrouded in bizarre myth, regarded as the 'Heavenly omen' of the Western Zhou's impending end."

The image shifts with the heavenly narration.

Ancient palace chambers appear, a mysterious wooden box, flowing dragon's saliva turning into a black giant turtle, which bursts into the court and contacts a frightened young maid…

The scene flashes back rapidly, finally freezing on a swaddled infant abandoned by the roadside, picked up by a fleeing couple who sell bows and arrows.

"'Dragon saliva becomes a black turtle, the maid becomes pregnant, the abandoned infant becomes of Bao State.' This bizarre origin is recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian and the Annals of the States. Its truth is uncertain, yet it cloaks this peerless beauty with a first veil of 'otherworldliness.'"

"The queen of Bao State, for speaking frankly and remonstrating, angered Zhou Youwang and was imprisoned in Haojing prison."

The image shows the prison, Bao State's subjects looking deeply worried.

"To save their ruler, the Bao people searched the realm, found this woman, were astonished by her unrivaled beauty, and presented her to the Youwang to atone."

The scene switches to the solemn, austere yet decaying Zhou royal palace.

When Bao Si is brought into the hall and her veil is lifted, the entire palace seems to brighten.

It is a beauty wholly different from Yang Yuhuan's voluptuous elegance—

Cold, pale, features like a painting frozen with frost, eyes distant, as if indifferent to everything around.

She stands there quietly, like a jade statue without warmth, yet stunningly beautiful beyond looking away.

Zhou Youwang (the celestial backdrop shows a middle‑aged ruler with slightly swollen features and cloudy eyes) leaps up from his throne, his eyes blazing with fierce light.

"Zhou Youwang beheld her, startled as if seeing a celestial being, his spirit intoxicated. He immediately released Bao Si, took her into the harem, showering her with countless favors all at once."

The scene swiftly flows, displaying the Youwang's ultimate pampering of Bao Si—exotic treasures streamed into her chambers, a separate palace pavilion erected for her, and even…

"To keep the beauty pleased for long, Zhou Youwang made a nation‑shaking decision—deposing the elder heir and installing a child."

The image becomes intense,

Former queen Shen Hou (daughter of Shen Hou) and Crown Prince Yi Jiu (later Zhou Pingwang) are brutally deposed; Shen Hou weeps, Yi Jiu's face full of unwillingness and resentment.

Bao Si is enthroned as the new queen, and her son Bofu is made crown prince.

Across the court, some remain silent, some are indignant, but most are fearful and sycophantic.

"This move utterly enraged the powerful motherland behind Queen Shen—Shen Kingdom—and Crown Prince Yi Jiu's maternal grandfather Shen Hou. The seed of disaster was thus deeply sown."

"However, the ultimate pampering did not win the beauty a smile."

The scene returns to Bao Si's inner chambers; no matter how the Youwang teases or offers exotic treasures, Bao Si remains expressionless,

her beautiful eyes a void of emptiness, as if nothing in the world can stir any interest.

The Youwang, from initial enthusiasm, becomes restless, finally angry and unwilling.

"A beauty's smile is worth a thousand gold!" Zhou Youwang offers a world‑wide bounty, seeking a way to make Bao Si smile.

"The sycophant Guoshi Fu presents a scheme—ignite the Li Mountain beacons."

The view gives a close‑up of the continuous Li Mountain beacon towers, and the piled wolf‑dung firewood used for warning.

The heavenly sound now deepens, dripping with sarcasm:

"Beacons are the most urgent military signal. Smoke by day, fire by night; when vassals see them, they know the king's realm is in peril and must raise troops instantly, rushing to aid day and night. This is the foundation by which the Zhou dynasty maintains the world and commands the lords."

"Yet Zhou Youwang, to win a smile, treats this national instrument as a toy to mock the lords and please the beauty!"

The scene returns again to the Li Mountain high platform.

The Youwang follows Guoshi Fu's counsel, ordering: "Raise the beacons!"

In an instant, one, two, ten, a hundred… beacon towers across Li Mountain and neighboring peaks blaze sky‑piercing smoke in succession!

Against the dim sky, they appear as black pillars of fire linking heaven and earth, spectacular and exuding unparalleled urgency and majesty.

"Beacons rise, the world is alarmed!"

The scene rapidly switches, showing the chaotic scenes of vassal states across the land:

Vassals near Haojing hurriedly muster troops, armor not yet properly donned, urging war chariots to set out.

Distant vassals, receiving successive beacon signals, are shocked, fearing a massive invasion by the Quanrong; Haojing in peril, they immediately gather elite troops, abandon supplies, and advance light‑armed.

Smoke and dust swirl, horses and chariots clatter, banners tilt in the rushed march.

Countless lords and generals wear faces of anxiety, loyalty, and death‑bound resolve, racing desperately toward Haojing.

When they, exhausted and horse‑tired, finally reach Li Mountain's foot, they see not ferocious Quanrong cavalry nor a bloody battlefield, but on the platform, melodious strings and flutes, clinking cups, the Youwang hugging Bao Si, pointing at the chaotic vassal army below, laughing uproariously.

"Look! Look! These fools! They really came! Hahaha!"

The Youwang's smug, unrestrained off‑screen voice seems to echo.

The exhausted feudal lords and soldiers, looking up at the absurd scene on the high platform, were first bewildered, then utterly stunned, and immediately a raging fire of anger ignited in every pair of eyes!

They were toyed with!

The Emperor, to whom they swore lifelong loyalty, was toyed with like a monkey!

All for the sake of coaxing a smile from a cold‑faced woman?

At that moment,

The ever‑cold‑as‑ice Bao Si looked at the crowd below, this group of "loyal ministers and fine generals" who had been toyed with into a dizzy, helpless state, and looked at the brilliant, varied anger and shame on their faces,

At last, the corner of her mouth, unable to be restrained, lifted ever so slightly upward into an extremely small yet unmistakably clear curve.

That smile, like a snow lotus just blooming, an ice river suddenly cracking, beautiful to the point of breathtaking awe, instantly illuminated her otherwise lifeless visage and left the You Wang on the high platform staring dumbfounded, then erupting in ecstatic joy:

She laughed! She smiled, the beauty smiled! My lady! Reward Guoshi Fu's daughter!

【'Buying a smile with a thousand gold' thus became an idiom. And 'the beacon fires toy with the feudal lords' became the beginning of the Zhou royal house's prestige being swept away, leading to its self‑destruction.】

In the scene, the feudal lords, their faces ashen, silently withdrew their troops and turned to leave.

That departing silhouette was filled with chilling resolve and finality.