In the winter of the third year of Jinghong, feather-sized snowflakes danced freely around Jing, the capital city. The great white of the world added a hint of cleanliness to this prosperous land filled with desire.
On the streets, the warmly-dressed hawkers shrunk back in their clothes in the cold but didn’t forget to shout at the top of their lungs. Suddenly, the sound of drums came from the distance. The passersby and hawkers moved out of the way. Soon, a troop of soldiers dressed in silver armor escorted many carriages along the way. These carriages were inlaid with grand jewels, their copper bells ringing. The citizens of Jing immediately realized that it was the noble daughters of the imperial family out on a trip. No wonder they had the drums opening the way and other people had to move out of the way.
The hooves of the horses splashed the dirty grey snow on the ground. The grand carriages passed slowly among the people with coldness and imperiousness.
The last ebony carriage at the end was inscribed with phoenixes. While it was cleanly maintained, it was not as grand as the carriages in the front. It was worn and weathered by time.
“Stop the carriage.”
The sound of a young female came from inside the carriage. The guards around the carriage hesitated slightly and then stopped the carriage. A soldier came over with a bench, and a palace servant bowed respectfully in front of the carriage. They reached out a hand towards the carriage, but their eyes were filled with disdain and restraint.
A princess of the previous dynasty being raised by the emperor as a mascot to show his benevolence. She could only receive respect on the surface.
Soon, a young girl not even ten years old walked out of the carriage. She wore a cotton coat and had rabbit hairpins in her hair. She jumped off the carriage. She disregarded the dirty snow on the ground and ran towards a certain corner.
There was a small stall in the corner, sugar syrup boiling in the pot as an old man dressed in grey robes made figurines out of sugar. Seeing the adorable young child run over, the old man showed a kind smile. “Noble one, do you want to buy a sugar painting?”
The soldier who came with the young girl felt that this old man was slightly strange, but could not verbalize why. He bowed towards the young girl. “Your Highness, your body is noble—you cannot be rash.”
His Majesty the Emperor wanted this princess of the previous dynasty to be a mascot, and they, the soldiers, had to make sure the mascot would live. But when he finished speaking, he saw the young princess turn and look pleadingly at him. The soldier stilled for a moment and uncontrollably said, “If you like this, you can buy some to take back, but you should not eat a lot.”
As a soldier, he couldn’t muster up any resistance against an adorable-looking child.
“Noble person, what kind do you like?” The old man’s smile became even more gentle as he pointed at the sugar paintings on the rice straws. There were soldiers, beauties, flowers, animals, and even lifelike mountains and rivers.
Kong Hou didn’t know how she had seen this sugar painting stall from far away and just rashly left the carriage. While she was almost ten, she had only left the palace three times in her memory.
The first time, the imperial palace had been invaded by the rebels. The palace attendants had fled with her, but before they reached the city gates, the rebels had captured them.
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Ascending, Do Not Disturb!
Fantasy[ This story has been written by 'You Xia Die Ying' and translated by ' Dreams of Jianghu'. So all credits to them. You can find it on Novel Updates as well. I'm copying this here for my personal use but anyone who wants to read it is welcome. Now t...
