Eastern Palace

Eastern Palace Side Story 4

The Flowers In The Pavilion Resembles The Snow Under The Moonlight

The title is a verse from the Song Dynasty poem, Spring Jade Pavilion, written by Cai Shen. The poem is about how people's lives within the vast world is like a droplet in the ocean, each and every moment, what is the importance of it?

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It was only the ninth month, but there were already a few snowfalls. It continuously snowed the whole evening.

There was a fire in the tent, it was actually warm.

When I opened the tent and walked inside, I suddenly realized that the Princess was gone.

The milk in the bowl was unmoved. I reached my hand out to touch the bowl, the milk was still warm, so the Princess must not have gone far.

The guard in charge of watching over the tent anxiously asked: "General Pei, should we immediately search the camp?"

I shook my head and said: "No need to rush."

I walked out of the camp alone and found the Princess at the back of the mountain.

She sneakily gave beef jerky to a person with disheveled hair and who was covered with a felt blanket, living like a savage person.

I did not walk up close yet, but that person already pulled out the knife.

The gleaming golden knife, which was given to the feng nu within the Jie Shuo camp. It was said that this knife was extremely rare in the Western Regions, which was given by the King of Jie Shuo to his most trusted maidservant, known as feng nu. After being selected during their early childhood, their tongue would be cut off to prevent leaking secrets. Feng nu are free to enter and leave the King of Jie Shuo's tent, gaining the trust of the King, living a luxurious life. Every day they would diligently practice their swordsmanship, able to hide during the night, and kill without relying on weapons. It was said that the nobles of the Jie Shuo clan's greatest fear was the golden inlaid knife. If anyone dared to be disloyal to the King, their heads would be cut off by the feng nu using the golden inlaid knife during the middle of the night within their own tent.

I stopped my footsteps, I raised the wooden bowl in my hands, showing them that there was only milk.

That savage-like feng nu slowly withdrew her golden inlaid knife, I placed the wooden bowl on the ground, quietly retreating. The Princess took a careful look at me before bending down to grab the bowl of milk.

That feng nu ate in a hurry, probably because she hadn't eaten anything in a while, hurrying to drink up the bowl of milk without leaving a single drop left.

I turned around to leave, suddenly the Princess called me. Her Central Plain language was not spoken very well, she stumbled in her words, she said: "General, thank.....Thank you......"

I did not look back, I just stopped, and said: "Princess, no need to be polite."

I didn't expect her to be so impolite. The next day I saw the feng nu in her tent again, her hands and face were washed clean, her hair that was like felt fabric was cut short. She wore coarse clothes of a servant, resembling a young boy.

The Princess was a bit embarrassed, and she stuttered, trying to explain to me: "A'Du...she...pity...me...stay."

I looked at the few Central Plains maids who had been specially hired from the Anxi Protectorate, to serve the Princess. They all kneeled to the ground, trembling, afraid to get up.

I finally said: "The army cannot take in people of unknown origin. Besides, she is from a different clan. Princess should not make things difficult for this subject."