Nightfall

A Fairy Tale Named The Little Prince

Thinking about the things that he could not fully understand through his intelligence or experiences, Ning Que slowly closed his eyes in the sun. He began to reconstruct Zhuo Er’s intensely black face in his chaotic mind to strengthen his confidence in sorting out his own random and frustrated mind. The bright spring sunlight that was shining on the rock formations in the vestibule of the princess’s palace, on the bamboo chair, and on his body, was neither too bright nor too warm. It gradually removed the spring chill that had accumulated in the old library.

“Are you basking in the sun? But… my mom won’t let me do that.”

A crisp voice was gently heard from behind his chair. Ning Que opened his eyes to look back and saw a little boy’s face popping out from the rock formations. There were two blushes that were red as an apple on his slightly black and healthy face, on which his long eyelashes were really beautiful and his expression seemed a bit timid.

Ning Que looked at this little black face, somehow remembering Zhuo Er, and a kind of bitterness surged in his heart. He stood up from the chair to bow slightly toward the little boy, whom he had not seen for a while, and said, “Hello, Little Prince.”

The timid little boy was Xiaoman, the stepchild that Princess Lee Yu had brought back with her from the grassland. Ning Que had a lot of contact with the little boy along the way from the City of Wei to Chang’an, especially after the bloody battle on Northern Mountain Road.

“Why doesn’t Her Highness let you, my Little Prince, stay in the sun?” he asked with a smile.

“Mother said it would be easy to get tan.” Xiaoman looked at Ning Que seriously and explained, “I’m the son of my mother, the grandson recognized by His Majesty, and the proudest noble of the Tang Empire. Therefore, I can be black, but not too black.”

Ning Que could not help scratching his head upon hearing the little boy’s answer. He could imagine the difficulty that the boy from the grasslands had in adapting after coming to the rich and prosperous city of Chang’an, but he never thought that Her Highness’ education and care for the little boy was so rigorous. He smiled and explained, “It isn’t too bad to bask in the sun occasionally.”

The little boy looked around the quiet vestibule and found that the instructor palace nannies and imperial maids did not know that he had snuck in here. Then, his face lit up with pleasure, and he jumped over to the bamboo chair to tug on the sleeves of Ning Que. He gave Ning Que a certain wistful glance, raising his little face, and asked, “Can you tell me a story?”

Ning Que was shocked and did not expect that the little boy still recognized him and even remembered those fairy tales by the bonfire. Looking at his anxious eyes and the quiet vestibule, thinking that he had nothing else to do except for basking in the sun, he sat back against the bamboo chair and beckoned the little boy to sit beside him, and said, “I can’t tell stories. Those that I told last time should be called fairy tales.”

Xiaoman curiously asked, “What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a story?”

“A story is very complicated, while a fairy tale is very simple and happy,” replied Ning Que.

“I want to listen to fairy tales,” Xiaoman said while he laughed happily.

Ning Que thought of the past images and could not help smiling. He said, “That’s precisely what I am good at.”

Xiaoman moved closer, and concentrated on listening.

Ning Que thought for a second, and said to him, “You are the Little Prince from the grassland. So, I will tell you a fairy tale about a Little Prince, okay?”