选美记

Upon hearing the news that the bachelor emperor was seeking beautiful women to become his wife, young maidens, widows, virgins, and even older unmarried women flocked to apply. Overwhelmed by the sheer number of candidates, the emperor hired a painter to create portraits of each applicant, allowing him to carefully review them at his leisure. However, the painter was a greedy man: as long as he was paid, he could transform even the ugliest woman into a stunning beauty on paper. Conversely, if a truly beautiful woman—one with looks that could outshine the moon and put flowers to shame—failed to bribe him as he hinted, her portrait would end up resembling the second aunt of Zhu Bajie, as hideous as could be. Based on the painter’s portraits, the emperor mocked Candidate No. 6 as an "ugly woman" who didn’t know her place and traded her for a precious pot with a street performer, thinking he had scored a great deal. Little did he know that the ugliest woman in the portraits was, in reality, the most beautiful of them all.