As the sun began to set, the three children slowly enjoyed their time on the lit streets of Yunmeng for the Lantern festival. Thinking they had enough time with socializing and eating snacks along the way, they began to walk back home. However, a few sentences on the bright red lanterns caught Little Zhuqin's attention. She curiously ran over to the stall and raised her right hand to one of them. As Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng caught up to her side, the young girl concentrated hard on the written sentences.
The couple looking after the lantern booth came out and respectfully greeted the children, "Jin xiao jie, Wei gongzi, Jiang gongzi wanshang hao (Good evening young miss Jin, young master Wei and young master Jiang). Yuanxiaojie kuaile (Happy Lanterns festival)."
"Wanshang hao. Yuanxiaojie kuaile," Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying greeted back.
Slightly pausing on her concentration, Little Zhuqin cheerfully greeted, "Yuanxiaojie kuaile (Happy Lanterns festival) ✾◕ ‿ ◕✾!" then immediately went back into reading the sentences.
The two couple silently looked at each other and let out a small giggle.
The woman began, "Jin xiao jie has really good eyes. To come and test her own knowledge, I must praise such young talent."
"Dui, dui (Right, right)! Such a young talent indeed," The man added.
Wei Ying confidently chuckled, "Haha ~ women jia de xiao xiao jie shi zhende congming (Our family's little young miss is really intelligent) (๑>ᴗ<๑)!"
"Ei, shi...shi xiao dizi bu dui ma (Hey, it is little disciple is it not) (⊙ᗜ⊙)?" Jiang Cheng whispered.
Wei Ying shushed the young lad while Jiang Cheng just irritatingly crossed his arms together. Little Zhuqin finished reading and if anything, she finished solving them. Solving?
The young girl happily looked up at the couple the questioned, "Zhexie shi dengmi ma (Are these Lantern festival riddles) (◕▿◕✿)?"
"Dengmi (Lantern festival riddles)?" Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng questioned.
"Dui a (That is right)! I have heard of them but I never got to see one ⊙▽⊙," Little Zhuqin responded. "Buguo... (However)...don't we all read riddles every day (◕◞౪◟◕✿)?"
The two boys knew the young Jin maiden had referred the riddles to their daily studies of the ethics for the cultivation world. As they thought of the Jiang mistress constantly nagging them to study, Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng could only nervously smile with a sweat dropping down the side of their head (^▽^;).
The woman chuckled and gently turned the riddle towards her direction. After reading it, the couple smiled at each other and inquired if Little Zhuqin wanted to share the answer.
The young girl replied with a confident smile, "Hao ba (Ok) (⊙ᗜ⊙)!"
She cleared her throat and as the nine-year-old child recited the riddle from memory, she naturally caught the attention of nearby residents. Fengmian and Ziyuan coincidently finished their family visits and secretly stood by to watch the three children.
...Although Ziyuan was obviously questioning why Wei Ying was out on the streets rather than at home.
Little Zhuqin began reciting, "...Quan hong, meiyou zui (All red with no mouth). Ta kan qilai yi ge xiang fenghuang he zhuque zai yekong zhong (It looks like a phoenix and vermillion bird in the night sky). Ta chi le henduo...ta pa shui dan bupa ziran, xuezhe he bupa fengli (It eats a lot...it is afraid of water but is not afraid of nature, scholars and the force of the wind)...."
"Dajia...xiang cai ne (Does everyone want to guess)?"
Then she answered, "...Ta shi huo (It is fire). Dangran huo shi hongse dan huo benshen ye kan qilai xiang yi ge fenghuang he zhuque, yinwei chengse he huangse (Of course fire is red, but the fire itself also looks like a phoenix or vermillion bird because of orange and yellow). Yinwei shui xi qu le huo, huo ziran shi pa shui de (Because water washes away fire, fire is naturally afraid of water) (⊙ᗜ⊙).
"Hao, hao (Great, great)!" "Hao!" "Shuo de hao (Well said)!"
Together, the residents and distant bystanders loudly praised the young girl's riddle talent. Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng contently smiled at Little Zhuqin.
"Haha! Gewei lai kankan ba (Come and look everyone)! Not only can our Jin xiao jie Young miss Jin) answer such riddle, she can memorize such difficulty in a few minutes!" The man excitedly explained. "Where in Yunmeng can we find such young talent?"
"Intelligent indeed," "Such a small girl can memorize and correctly answer the riddle..."
"I am quite smart too (ᗒᗨᗕ)," Wei Ying laughed.
Jiang Cheng jokingly responded, "You sure ಠ⌣ಠ?"
A curious bystander quietly questioned, "Jin xiao jie...nandao shi nage Lanling Jin shi de xiao jie ma (Young miss Jin...could it be that Lanling Jin sect's young miss)? I do not mean to be rude, but...what is she doing here in Yunmeng? And by herself too..."
Another replied, "You did not know? Jin xiao jie has been in Yunmeng for almost three years now. I heard that she is the leader's youngest disciple."
One other bystander responded, "Shi a (That is right). Where have you been for the last three years?"
"Youngest disciple? Her? A girl?"
"Tsk, aiya, does it matter if the leader's youngest disciple is a girl or not?"
"It does. The leader's eldest disciple is a boy after all."
"I do not think it matters if disciples are girls or not. Besides, Jin xiao jie has gone through a lot and to be gifted at such a young age, she is quite the fortunate one..."
...How fortunate?
"That is right. She has also become the light of our Yunmeng city. We also always know she is nearby because of Jiang family bell."
"Is that so? Does the Jiang family bell make that much noise? From what I see, when Jiang zong zhu walks around, his bell does not make that much noise..."
"Aiya, are you trying to disrespect our leader? Are you new here?" The bystander asked the other one.
The other resident replied, "No, I have lived in Yunmeng all my life. It is just....it seems like this Jin xiao jie is quite important to the Jiang family...which confuses me. The bell ornament is important to the Jiang family but I never heard of an outsider getting such special treatment."
"Aiya, what outsider? Do not say that. If Yu furen happens to hear it, think about what she will say to you..."
"...Is Jin xiao jie that special?"
"Special or not, the color seems to be slightly different. The Jiang family's bell is usually plain silver but from what I saw, the bell was slightly silver with purple," The bystander continued to say.
"Oooh..."
"Also, I heard that the one who gave her those two bells was Jiang gongzi himself...can't you already imagine what the young master means by giving those bells to Jin xiao jie?"
"...Jiang gongzi giving the bells to Jin xiao jie does not mean he likes her or anything..."
"But he gave her two...just imagine what the other bells means?"
That was indeed true. While Little Zhuqin wore one of Jiang Cheng's bell...what did the other bell mean?
While the residents murmured together, Fengmian could only smile with pride while Ziyuan was only thinking the obvious, "My future daughter-in-law is indeed full of excellence and wisdom."
Feeling energetic about the happy crowd, Little Zhuqin carefully turned another riddle towards her and again, concentrated hard on the sentences. After a minute or two, she turned her attention towards the crowd and began to recite once again.
"...Ta...shi yi ge ziran zhi mei (It are a natural beauty). Zai hanlang de shihou, ta hui youya de shanshuo, zhe meili xiang shui yiyang qingche, dan ta haipa canlan de taiyang (In the cold, it is graceful and their beauty is as clear as water, but it is afraid of the bright sun). Ruguo canlan de taiyang bu liang, zhege ziran zhi mei jiang yongyuan cunzai (If the bright sun does not shine, the natural beauty will remain forever)..."
Little Zhuqin paused for a moment just so everyone could have time to think of the riddle. After coming up with empty words, the young girl cheerfully smiled.
"Ta shi bing (It is ice). Bing shi ziran mei ronghua shi, taiyang puzhao (Ice is a natural beauty that melts when the sun shines). Ruguo taiyang bu liang ne, bing jiang yongyuan liu zai hanleng de dongtian (If the sun does not shine then the ice will remain forever in the cold winter) (๑'ㅂ'๑)."
Again, the crowd and the couple loudly uttered words of rich compliments and the disbelief that such a young maiden was able to decipher such difficult yet simple riddles. Feeling inspired to solve one, Wei Ying looked at a lantern riddle and unlike the young girl, the boy began to read the riddle out loud (ง 'ω')۶.
He cleared his throat while Little Zhuqin and Jiang Cheng let out a small giggle, "Dang ni shoudao ta, ta tongchang shi luse de, dan dang ni dakai ta, ta shi hongse de (When you receive it, it is green but when you open it, it is red). Dang ni weixiao he pinching tianmi, ni neng xiangdao de weiyi de shiqing shi tu hei (When you smile and taste the sweetness, the only thing you can think of is to spit out the black)."
After reading, Wei Ying looked a little baffled but nonetheless, he was still smiling. His eyes wandered a bit and he crossed his arms together while thinking hard of how to answer the riddle. Seeing his elder adopted brother thinking hard, Jiang Cheng also thought began to think twice as hard just to impress the people of Yunmeng.
For Little Zhuqin? She simply knew the answer and chuckled a bit.
"A Qin, ni...ni xiao shenme (What are you laughing at A Qin) (๑°⌓°๑)?" Wei Ying asked.
The young girl answered, "Wo xiao...wo xiao yinwei zhege miyu zhende jiandan ne (I am laughing because this riddle is not that complicated) (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)!"
"Hmmm ಠ_ಠ?" Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng confusingly looked at each other.
Little Zhuqin slightly giggled again and joyfully whispered to them, "...Zai xiatian, nuhai gei women shenme ne (What do the girls give us in the summer)? Shijie ye gei women shenme ya (What does senior sister also give us) ԅ( ˘ω˘ԅ)?"
"...Xiatian (Summer)?" The boys whispered back.
From the young girl's experience for the past three years, the summertime in Yunmeng was extremely tense and scorching hot. The only time Wei Ying, Jiang Cheng and Little Zhuqin could relax was either swimming in the lotus lake or enjoy...
"Xigua (Watermelon)! XIGUA (ᗒᗨᗕ)!" Wei Ying said out loud with a huge grin. "Xigua shi luse de waimian, jishi women xiangshou de tiantou, women budebu tu hei zongzi (Watermelons are green on the outside and even if we enjoy the sweetness, we have to spit out the black seeds)."
"Dui a (That is right) (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)!" Little Zhuqin excitedly said.
As the crowd praised the children's playfulness, Wei Ying simply said "Zai lai (Again)!" and turned another lantern around to read the riddle. However, instead of looking at it alone, he eagerly gestured for the young girl to also read it with him. Seeing this, the Jiang mistress was tempted to go and separate them but Fengmian simply placed his hand on her shoulder, mentally telling her that it was best she stayed out of the children's socializing time. Besides, they certainly did not want to make a scene as the respected leaders of their Yunmeng Jiang Sect.
Ziyuan, however, thought the Jiang leader simply wanted that Wei Ying and Little Zhuqin to have time for themselves ...excluding Jiang Cheng. Naturally, she shrugged off Fengmian's silent suggestion and irritatingly approached the big crowd to get to the children.
Little Zhuqin, though, had other plans...
"A Cheng, lai, ni ye kankan ba (A Cheng, come, you also take a look) (˶◕‿◕˶✿)!"
Before the Jiang mistress could even make her presence known in the big crowd, the young girl turned to Jiang Cheng and showed him the lantern riddle. She joyfully encouraged him to read the riddle out loud but the Jiang youngster simply looked away. Then she looked at Wei Ying and the young lad only gestured for her to read the riddle for everyone.
She proceeded to read, "Ta yizhi zai genzong ni (This has been following you). Ta bu kewang shiwu, bu kewang xianhua (It does not crave food and does not desire flowers). Zai shuizhong, ta buhui yansi, zai huo zhong, ta buhui ranshao, ta bupa feng, buhui gandao tengtong (In the water, it does not drown, in the fire, it does not burn, it is not afraid of the wind and does not feel pain). Zhiyou dang taiyang xiashan ta ye hui xiaoshi (Only when the sun goes away, it will also go away). Bie dangxin, yidan taiyang shengqi, ta hui zaici pei ni (Do not worry, once the sun rises, it will accompany you again)."
Again, the crowd exchanged a few words of what the correct answer could be. Even Fengmian and Ziyuan were trying to decode the riddle's answer. While Jiang Cheng was thinking, Wei Ying and Little Zhuqin smiled at each other. They knew the answer to the perplexing riddle but the young girl at least wanted to give Jiang Cheng a chance to also answer a riddle. The Jiang mistress was silently encouraging her son to quickly shout out the answer to prove his knowledge to everyone but Jiang Cheng just shook his head and smiled at Little Zhuqin. His smile was simply telling her to share the answer.
"...Hao ba (Ok then) (◕o◕✿)," The young girl quietly said and turned to the crowd just as Wei Ying did the same.
Little Zhuqin looked at Wei Ying and at the same time, they merrily shared the answer.
"Shi yingzi (It is shadow) (ᗒᗨᗕ) (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)!"
"Yingzi, zenme (Shadow, how)..." "Yes, how can this be a shadow?" "Isn't this more like a stalker?" "Been following us? For how long?" "How scary..." The residents all uttered together.
As children, they generally wanted to explain their knowledge to the adults...
Wei Ying began to explain, "Daan shi yingzi yinwei taiyang chulai de shihou, yingzi genzhe women (The answer is shadow because when the sun comes out, our shadow follows us). Zuowei renlei, women shi e le, women chi dan yingzi bing bu xuyao chi (As humans, we are hungry and eat, but our shadow does not need to eat). Women xiang yao de dongxi, dan yingzi bu xiwang renhe dongxi (We want things, but our shadow does not want anything) ԅ( ˘ω˘ԅ)."
"Dang youren shanghai women, women gandao tengtong, dan yingzi buhui tengtong (When people hurt us, we feel pain but our shadow does not feel pain). Dang taiyang luoshan, yingzi xiaoshi, dan ruguo you guang, yingzi jiang zaici chuxian (When the sun sets, our shadows disappear but if there is light, our shadows appear again). Zhiyou dang taiyang shengqi shi, yingzi cai hui zaici bansui women (Only when the sun rises again will our shadows be with us). Qishi shi zhende (Actually this is quite true) (๑'ㅂ'๑)," Little Zhuqin added.
The crowd began to think of what the two children said and Jiang Cheng could only let out a small breath like sigh. Well, the riddle and the answer only made sense now that Wei Ying and Little Zhuqin explained it. Indeed, the riddle's answer was not a 'stalker' (lol).
The couple smiled contently at each other then the husband raised his hands up in a respectful greeting gesture and said, "Peifu, peifu liangge haizi a (I must admire you two children! Jin xiao jie and Wei gongzi are really a match made from the heavens. To come and recite as well as answer such riddles like this on a beautiful evening during the Lantern festival, shi bu shi yuanfen ba (Is it possible that this is fate)?"
"Ah (๑°⌓°๑)?" Little Zhuqin and Wei Ying looked up at the man while Jiang Cheng irritatingly squinted his eyes at him.
The woman lightly laughed, "Shi a, shi a (That is right). Yiding yuanfen ba (It must be fate). Is it such a coincidence that these children came here tonight and solved this riddle together, they must be......."
While the woman was praising and trying to get her fellow Yunmeng neighbors to possibly support the two 'destined' children on that festive night, Little Zhuqin's attention began to fade. If anything, her head felt a little dizzy and as if her vision was becoming blurred...she began to smell a familiar aroma.
Again, it was the smell of wine.
She was not sure just what kind of wine it was...but the young girl knew that the smell was generally just bittersweet.
...The smell of wine though, reminded her of Lan Zhan since he somehow carried that bittersweet smell with him when she met him for the first time three years ago.
Three years ago....it had been so long since she saw Lan Huan and Lan Zhan. Even she wondered how they had been all those years. At that moment, she wanted to see her Gusu Lan forehead ribbon that had been left on her desk in her small study room.
"Yes, it must be fate!" "Ta shi Jiang zongzhu de zui nianqing de dizi (She is the Jiang leader's youngest disciple)!" "Zui nianqing de dizi he zui nianzhang de dizi jiehun ting qilai xiang zhenzheng de yuanfen (The youngest disciple and the eldest disciple marrying sounds like true fate),"
"Jin xiao jie ye laizi Lanling Jin shi (Young miss Jin also comes from the Lanling Jin sect," "Ruguo liangge haizi jiehun, women de Yunmeng Jiang shi he Lanling Jin shi de zhandui kending hui yiqi fanrong (If the children marry, our Yunmeng Jiang sect and their Lanling Jin sect will certainly prosper together),"
"Yes, yes!"
As the crowd carried on with their own opinion on Wei Ying and Little Zhuqin (leaving Jiang Cheng out of it lol), the young girl herself continued to feel dizzier.
Marriage...
Fate...
Destiny....
Them?
...But the bittersweet wine...
The young girl's eyes could not stay open any longer and as cheerful as she usually was, Little Zhuqin began to slowly lose her balance. She could not properly stand. Her smile simply faded...
...This all happened when the crowd began to talk about Wei Ying and Little Zhuqin being potential mates for each other. Plus the smell of the peculiar bittersweet wine...
While Wei Ying was generally happy about the early 'blessings' from the Yunmeng residents, Jiang Cheng noticed the wobbly balance the young girl had and leaned up against her to have her stand straight. The Wei youngster only noticed when Jiang Cheng slapped his left elbow. When asked if she was ok, Little Zhuqin simply smiled and said she was fine, but all the marriage and fate talk mysteriously made her lose herself.
"Aiya, such fate existed on this beautiful evening?" "Yes, never thought such young love would bloom..."
The Jiang mistress let out an irritated sigh and loudly made her appearance known as she walked in through the big crowd while Fengmian followed behind her.
"Shenme shengkai de ai (What blooming love)? Shenme yuanfen congtiang shang (What fate made from the heavens)?" She questioned, trying not to sound too harsh in her tone of voice.
"From what I see, it is just two silly children solving riddles and sharing their wisdom with others..." Ziyuan said as she and Fengmian reached the children.
She placed her right hand on her hip and chuckled a bit, "Oh...I mean three silly children solving riddles..."
The Jiang mistress looked down at Jiang Cheng while the young son just looked away nervously, knowing that since he was not able to solve the riddle earlier, his mother must be disappointed.
Then he asked himself, "Actually, how long did they watch us for (ノ_<。)?"
"Yu furen (Madam Yu)," "Jiang zong zhu," The crowd and couple greeted altogether.
"Yu furen, Jiang zong zhu, you two have come at a perfect timing. These two children are being praised as potential marriage partners for the future. The citizens surely want to know...but certainly, this decision is up to you two respectfully," The husband said.
The Jiang leader just sighed and tried to smile but he definitely could not. He knew his wife was going to stir up some kind of trouble and if anything, he tried to stay as calm as possible and probably go home with as less difficult as possible.
Yu Ziyuan began, "Earlier, I heard that Wei Ying was a suitable partner for A Ling. I heard that their fate was made from the heavens but is there such fate in this world?"
The crowd just silently looked at each other and almost felt as if they had offended the Jiang mistress...or the Purple Spider.
The Jiang mistress then let out a mocking chuckle, "Heh, a young disciple from the Lanling Jin sect, no, the daughter of Jin Guangshan marrying a fellow sla...."
Of course, Ziyuan was about to refer Wei Ying as a 'slave,' since Wei Changze, his father, was a former slave who worked in the Jiang family. But after Fengmian directly stood beside her with his hands behind his back, even the Jiang mistress could not say the word. She breathed in and let out a frustrated sigh.
Then she continued, "The daughter of Jin Guangshan marrying a fellow disciple from our Yunmeng Jiang sect? If everyone was the Jiang leader or me...would this benefit the relation between two clans?"
Again, the crowd could only silently watch as parents tried to shush their children from being too loud in front of the respected leaders.
"...No answer? Well, I can only assume that in order to have good relations with another sect, we must wed the children who belong to the clan respectfully, isn't that right? For example, Jiang Cheng...no one has forgotten that Jiang gongzi is also here right? It is not only Wei Ying...or Wei gongzi that is here with A Ling."
"Shi a....Jiang gongzi ye zai zhe (That is right, young master Jiang was also here)..." The residents quietly murmured together.
"San niang," Fengmian firmly began. "Tonight is the Lantern festival. Everyone was only enjoying the innocent performance made by the children. We need not to talk about clans becoming allies through marriage..."
"Oh, shi ma (Is that so)?" The Jiang mistress questioned. "If it wasn't for our beloved people blindly talking about the fate between Wei Ying and A Ling...would I have said such things too?"
With the crowd not talking about Wei Ying and her fate anymore, Little Zhuqin's energy came back. She properly stood on her own and observed the situation as it was.
"San nia," "Of course, tonight is the Lantern festival. The festival is known for young love to bloom, but that does not mean that the children have become something more just because they solved a simple riddle together...isn't that right A Cheng?" Ziyuan interrupted the Jiang leader.
"Wo....(I).... (⊙＿⊙)" Jiang Cheng stuttered.
He had to say something. Jiang Cheng had to answer to his mother because if he did not, he was going to be looked down upon again. However, he simply could not and just raise his hands up, left hand over right, to his mother's 'wise' decisions.
Little Zhuqin though, smiled and answered the angry aunt's question, "Aunty, the three of us had become something more ever since three years ago (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)!"
"Ah?"
This left the crowd bursting out into small laughter's and even Fengmian himself tried to hold his laugh back as much to the point where he was clearing his throat in order not to embarrass his wife.
"You, A Ling," "Jiaozi (Dumplings)! Wo wang le (I forgot) ୧☉□☉୨! Wo haiyou zuo jiaozi ne (I still have to cook the dumplings) б（＞ε＜）∂!" The young girl merrily interrupted the mistress and grabbed onto the two boys hands.
As they ran home, Fengmian could only let out a breath like chuckle while Ziyuan let out quite the 'what-am-I-going-to-do-with-this-girl' sigh. The three children disappeared within the distant crowds and the bystanders nearby only carried on with their own business immediately after. The crowd bid temporary farewell to Fengmian then dispersed and the couple only looked at each other, hoping they would not fall into deep trouble for inviting such conversations on marriage and fate.
The husband began, "Uh...Jiang zong zhu and Yu furen...we truly apologize."
"Apologize? There is no need for an apology. We are all here to enjoy the Lantern festival tonight, so there is no need for such thing," Fengmian gently reassured.
Ziyuan was obviously looking for an apology but since the man already apologized, she was not going to pursue the matter any further.
But...
"...They are all still children. There was definitely no need to talk about marriage and fate. A Ling is only nine-years-old, Wei Ying and A Cheng are only 11...they are too young to be wed off. Talking about marriage will only make them question when they are going to get married..." She commented. "As children, they ought to live freely until the time comes."
"Ah, yes! Yu furen shuo de dui (What Madam Yu said is correct). Please, excuse us for having been rude towards the young miss!" The woman quickly apologized. "...and the young masters!"
"Heh...like the Jiang leader said, there is no need to apologize on such a lovely night," The Jiang mistress turned to look at the couple and smiled. "Please enjoy the rest of the night together."
Having said so, Ziyuan walked off just as Fengmian let out another sigh and after bidding temporary farewell to the couple, he also followed after his wife.
The Lantern festival began to come to an end. The children lit the paper lanterns and watched them fly freely into the sky. After lighting the flying lanterns, the Jiang household also lit the floating lanterns and gently pushed them away from the shore to have them beautifully drift in the water. The lanterns in the night sky looked like small fireflies that turned into blazing stars on a cold winter night. The lanterns on the water looked like bright paths leading to anything but pure happiness.
It was quite a beautiful sight.
When Wei Ying asked what the young Jin maiden wrote as a wish on her lanterns, Little Zhuqin cheerfully said, "Mmmm...bu gaosu ni (Not telling you) (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)! Ruguo wo gaosu ni, wo de yuanwang jiu buhui shixian le (If I tell you, my wish will not come true) (˶◕‿◕˶✿)!"
On such a lovely night, she was not trying to be selfish but the young girl was possibly right. If she told the young lad or anyone about her wish, they would not come true.
They?
Well, the girl simply had more than one wish after all.
Little Zhuqin, with the help of Wei Ying, Yanli and Jiang Cheng, happily served bowls after bowls of Tang Yuan dumplings to their fellow Jiang family members; disciples, servants, attendants, and just anyone who the young girl regarded as a family member of the Jiang household. The Jin maiden, Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng even went onto the streets to share the dumplings to families and in particular, children. When they were done, the three trio met with the Jiang leader and mistress in the family dining hall. With Fengmian sitting directly in the middle outside the eating circle, Ziyuan sat directly across from Jiang Cheng. On the other side, Jiang Cheng sat next to Yanli, Yanli sat next to Wei Ying and Little Zhuqin was seated directly next to the young lad.
In front of their eating table was a bowl of steaming hot Tang Yuan dumplings with sweet fillings inside. It was common for families to come together on the night of the Lantern Festival and enjoy a bowl of sweet dumplings together...and that was what Little Zhuqin and the Jiang family was doing.
It was also common to make goals for the New Year during the Lantern festival.
When asked about the goals for the New Year, the young Jin maiden had too many goals to say and so she merrily replied, "Ni cai a (You guess) (◕▿◕✿)?"
From there, she only promised herself to make good memories before leaving back to her home in Lanling three months from then.
...
...However, little did the young Jin maiden know...the prophecy was beginning to grow, her phoenix-lotus birthmark was beginning to slowly spread and how coincidental that Little Zhuqin ran into three ironic riddles on such a lovely festive night?
Fire and phoenix.
Ice.
...Shadow.
The phoenix resembled fire with its blazing beauty and it also resembled the empress. Ice represented jade-like people with grace and wisdom...but shadow?
Just who was Little Zhuqin going to become the shadow of?
Nonetheless, the young girl had wishes and dreams she wanted to fulfill. The poor child was only 11-years-old, not even a proper teen or adult yet.
...Just let her live peacefully.