仙緣/Xiān Yuán

Untitled Part 1

仙緣/Xiān Yuán: roughly translated as Immortal's Fate

Prompt: Early Mornings/Late Evenings

The adults had a story that they would love to tell their children every time they went to bed. A story that originated from the ancient past. The story was about a cursed God and his human lover. Their love touched heaven and earth as they vowed to forever stay together, even death couldn't part them. They promised to continue looking for the other, days and nights, until they finally found each other again in another lifetime.

The story began a long time ago, so long that no one was able to remember. At the distant land to the south, where the weather was pleasant and warm all year around. There was a kingdom that surrounded by lakes and ponds. Purple lotus was the flower that represented their kingdom. The king Jiang FengMian was a man of extreme kindness, his benevolence was known throughout the entire land. Under his rule, every citizen were granted a happy and fulfilled life. The queen was quite the opposite. She was cold and strict, but her love for her family and her children was beyond compare. The king and queen had together two children: a beautiful princess that took after her father, and a young prince took after his mother. The princess, once she came of age, was promised to a prince of the neighboring country. The prince was also coming of age soon, so the queen was in a rush trying to find a suitor for her beloved son.

The prince Jiang Cheng however, wasn't that interested in getting married. He preferred to go hunting with his adoptive brother and his attendants rather than to sit down and see which girls should be the next queen of the kingdom, and that worried the queen to no end.

"A-Cheng is still young, let him enjoy his youth a bit more." The king often comforted his queen, but she would often rolled her eyes and walked away.

He was turning twenty, a ripe age of getting married, a lot of nearby princesses and royal maidens would love to enter his eyes. And yet, the prince himself had never fallen in love nor expressed any interest. The queen even included on the list with fair royal lads and princes, but the prince didn't pay them any attention.

The prince himself, didn't feel like falling in love yet. Only because of all the people that his mother introduced to him, none caught his eye. He wasn't picky, but his brother told him he was. He shouted at the other man who was laughing at his misery. He just wanted to take it slow. If he had to spend his entire life with one person, he wanted it to be the right one.

Then one day, he came across a person, a person more beautiful than a flower, more elegant than the golden sun above, a person that descended from heaven. And for the first time in his twenty years, he felt what it was like to fall in love. It was his fated partner, even though it wasn't someone that he could easily touch and be with.

It was one of those usual hunting trips outside the palace with his brother and attendants. They often rode on their horses, and competed against each other on who could hunt the most. Whoever lost, would have to treat everyone to a meal.

For Jiang Cheng, he was never the person that ended up last, but he was never the first either. When it came to hunting, his adoptive brother was on another level. He had never gotten a chance to beat him, not even one! So he was always in a rush of proving himself.

The hunting usually started right after they arrived at their destination. Each person would enter the forest at their chosen spots, and each had four hours to kill as much as they could. Jiang Cheng was the first to enter the forest, any seconds counted.

He climbed down on his horse, taking in the scenery before him. He kneeled down on the ground, trying to see if there was any visible footprints. To his luck, there was a set of fresh footprints, probably from a deer. He followed the footprints, through the layers of thick leaves and trees, to finally arrive at a river. The water was pure and crystal clear. From where he stood, the reflection of leaves and branches vividly appeared on the surface of the water. Rays of sunlight shone through the cracks between layers of leaves, lit up the river in golden hue. It was magnificent.