"Woman Yiyao, tell me some more stories, I don't want to go to bed yet," Xuanyuan Hao said somewhat willfully.
Yi Shangyun sighed upon hearing this, then asked helplessly, "What kind of story would Your Highness like to hear this time?"
Xuanyuan Hao suddenly heard a faint sound outside, like firecrackers going off, and his heart itched with excitement. He said, "The New Year is almost here. How about you tell me, Yiyao Nu, how ordinary children outside the palace celebrate the New Year?"
"Hmm... how do children from ordinary families celebrate the New Year?" Yi Shangyun murmured, tilting her head and gently biting her soft red lips. This was her first time celebrating the New Year since she transmigrated to this time and space. The original owner of this body didn't have any memories of it, perhaps because her childhood wasn't very happy.
How could she possibly know how children in ordinary families celebrated the New Year in this country a thousand years ago? Perhaps it was similar to how it is in the 21st century?
She suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered a New Year's song from her hometown in Northwest China when she was a child in the 21st century. It should also include almost all the activities of the New Year.
So she said to Xuanyuan Hao, "This servant will read a folk children's New Year's rhyme to Your Highness. After hearing it, Your Highness will know how children in ordinary families celebrate the New Year:
On the 23rd, the Kitchen God ascends to heaven;
On the 24th, write large characters after writing the couplets;
On the 25th, every household pasted paper on their windows;
On the 26th, go to the market to buy meat for the New Year;
On the 27th, the whole family washed their feet.
On the 28th, two baskets of steamed cakes and buns;
On the 29th, we picked up the jug and poured in the liquor.
On New Year's Eve, meat is offered to the ancestors.
"Your Highness, how is it?" After carefully recalling and reading it, Yi Shangyun asked Xuan Yuanhao on the bed with a face full of joy. She had not read this New Year's rhyme for more than 20 years and could hardly believe that she could still remember it.
However, when she lowered her gaze to look at Xuan Yuanhao again, she found that he had already fallen asleep sometime earlier. So, she smiled, shook her head, got up, gently tucked the blankets in for him, lowered the curtains, and tiptoed out of the main hall into the quiet and spacious palace garden outside.
It was warm inside the main hall, but cold outside the palace gardens, with a biting wind. Yi Shangyun immediately wrapped her cotton coat tighter around herself.
In the tranquil winter night, countless stars vie for attention, their light embedded in the vast sky like countless devout wishes hanging in the deep night, waiting to be lit.
I had long heard that the winter night sky is the most magnificent of the year, the season with the most bright stars. Seeing it today, it is indeed breathtaking.
Looking up at the wonders of nature, Yi Shangyun couldn't help but exclaim, "Just as Kant famously said, the brilliant starry sky above us can indeed deeply move our souls."
Just then, the seven-colored gold and jade bracelet on her wrist seemed to sense something, and a bright blood-red pattern appeared again, which looked very much like a character, like the character "百" (hundred).
Just like the previous two times, the crimson patterns appeared only briefly, disappearing instantly, and the seven-colored jade bracelet returned to its original state. She carefully took it off, examining it closely in her hand, and suddenly a doubt arose in her heart, "What exactly is this hinting at? Could it be some kind of command symbol from the system?"
Just as she was lost in thought, a burst of dazzling fireworks suddenly ignited in the eastern sky not far from the palace, so bright and dazzling that it seemed to rise into the night sky and merge with the stars.
She tilted her head back, her eyes sparkling, and a slight smile played on her lips as she gazed at the fireworks bursting in the sky. Through the thin veil covering her face, she appeared ethereal and captivating.
This grand fireworks display was none other than the work of King Xuanyuan Han of Qin. He himself did not know why he had chosen to set off such a magnificent display of fireworks in this open field on the outskirts of the city tonight.
After Cheng Liang obeyed the order and lit all the fireworks, he slowly walked towards his master and said to Xuan Yuanhan, "Your Highness, Yi Yao Nu will definitely be able to see this magnificent fireworks display."
The talkative Xuan Yuanhan was also gazing at the vast starry sky and the dazzling fireworks. Hearing Cheng Liang's words, he coldly reprimanded him.
Inside Donghua Palace, Yi Shangyun had just returned from the cold palace gardens to the warm bedchamber, still holding the seven-colored gold and jade bracelet in her hand, pondering it with a puzzled expression.
Suddenly a familiar voice rang in my ear, "What are you holding in your hand?"
Yi Shangyun then looked up and saw that Xuan Yuanhao had woken up. She rushed over and said hurriedly, "Your Highness, why are you awake? Oh... Your Highness must have been woken up by the fireworks outside, right? I wonder which annoying person set off such a grand display of fireworks so late at night. It was really irritating."
Yi Shangyun had just been thoroughly enjoying the dazzling fireworks display, but upon entering and seeing Xuan Yuanhao awakened and leaning against the couch, she launched into such a sharp and scathing attack.
“I didn’t sleep at all, okay?” Xuan Yuanhao said.
Upon hearing Xuan Yuanhao's words, Yi Shangyun was stunned and asked with a mix of embarrassment and innocence, "Your Highness, why is that? Why did Your Highness close your eyes and not answer when I spoke to you?"
"I only wanted to let you rest early because I saw that you were working too hard, but I didn't expect you to go out so late in the freezing cold. Were the fireworks outside beautiful?"
At this moment, Xuanyuan Hao, acting like a little adult, asked questions with particular concern. His clothes, clouded with barely concealed joy, quickly and animatedly replied, "Your Highness, there's more to see than just fireworks outside. There's also a sky full of stars, unique to winter, twinkling and dazzling. Once Your Highness recovers and can go out, I'll accompany you to see them, shall I?"
"Alright, I'll wait... What's that thing you're holding that you're so fascinated by? Let me see it too." Xuan Yuanhao looked at the bracelet in Yi Shangyun's hand and reached out to take a look as well.
"Oh, this is just a bracelet that Your Highness wouldn't even notice. Your Highness, please feel free to take a look if you wish," Yi Shangyun said, generously handing the bracelet to Xuan Yuanhao.
"The Golden Jade Bracelet... gathers the essence of heaven and earth, sun and moon, and contains the spirit of all things in the universe. Wearing it can cure diseases and ailments. I never imagined that Yi Yao Nu would have such a treasure." Xuan Yuan Hao took the bracelet and examined it carefully, then said to Yi Shang Yun in surprise.
"Your Highness, to be honest, this jade bracelet was a gift from someone very important to me, and it didn't originally belong to me," Yi Shangyun hurriedly explained.
"Someone very important?...The one you've been thinking of?" Xuan Yuanhao teased her, glancing sideways at her.
"Your Highness..." Yi Shangyun was somewhat embarrassed and didn't know how to explain, so he hesitated before speaking.
Seeing her expression, Xuanyuan Hao let her off the hook and stopped asking questions. He then said, "Since wearing this bracelet can cure diseases, would the woman in charge of clothing and medicine be willing to lend it to me for a few days?"
"Of course you can, but Your Highness... Your Highness must be careful not to get angry and throw it away again. Please return it to me after you're done using it. I really care about this jade bracelet. Perhaps one day in the future, I will have to return it to that person," Yi Shangyun said with some worry.
"Then it's settled. Once I recover, I will repay you double," Xuan Yuanhan said playfully yet sincerely, as he put the jade bracelet on his wrist and examined it.
A moment later, Xuan Yuanhao's previously expressive face suddenly darkened, and he said to Yi Shangyun with apparent seriousness, "Yi Yao Nu, this Crown Prince... wants to see my own face."
Yi Shangyun's joyful face froze and turned to worry. She said, "Your Highness...", but before she could finish speaking, she hesitated for a moment. In the end, she went over and took the bronze mirror that had been covered by a piece of sapphire blue brocade for a long time. With a nervous heart, she walked up to Xuan Yuanhao.
Xuanyuan Hao lowered his eyes, his expression solemn, his hands clenched into fists, and after a moment he slowly loosened them, as if he had mustered up his courage to slowly raise his head and look into the bronze mirror in the hand of Yi Shangyun in front of him.
The once spirited young man was no longer visible in the mirror; instead, his face was covered with pockmarks left after the scabs had fallen off, just like the scars on his limbs that he saw every day—dense, shocking, and unsettling.
As Xuanyuan Hao watched, he began to tremble with clenched teeth. Finally, unable to contain his anger, he quickly reached out and slammed the bronze mirror in Yi Shangyun's hand to the ground. The mirror shattered on the floor, making a crisp "crackling" sound.
Immediately, he began to sob and cry out in anguish, "No, why, why... why has this prince become like this?"
Seeing his out-of-control state, Yi Shangyun was heartbroken. She quickly sat down by the bed and hugged the poor child tightly with her small, frail body. With tears in her eyes, she said to him excitedly, "Your Highness... don't be sad... it will be alright... it will definitely be alright... Yun'er will definitely find a way to help Your Highness... I definitely can."
Xuanyuan Hao also hugged Yi Shangyun tightly at the same time. The two of them embraced each other tightly in the bedchamber, both shedding tears, overwhelmed with grief...
Finally, exhausted from crying, Xuanyuan Hao nestled against Yishangyun's thin shoulder and fell asleep peacefully. She tucked the blanket around him again and drew the curtains.
Wiping away her tears, she said to the sleeping Xuan Yuanhao with a heavy heart, "Such a sincere and kind child, yet because he was born into an imperial family, he had to face and endure all kinds of internal and external troubles from a young age, which were impossible to guard against, and he eventually became the target of everyone's hatred."
She sighed and shook her head, then got up and began to pick up the broken pieces of the bronze mirror one by one. She thought to herself: Poison Doctor and Physician are a family, and should all take it as their duty to save the common people and heal the wounded. But now they have become appendages in the struggle for imperial power. She frowned deeply and felt indignant.
Suddenly, her eyes widened as if she had remembered something. She quickly gathered up the broken pieces of the bronze mirror and hurried over to Xuan Yuanhao's sickbed.
The colorful jade bracelet with gold threads was quietly placed on the boy's wrist. The boy looked peaceful in his sleep. She wished that time could stand still at this moment, and that this child would never be hurt again.
She was mesmerized. She slowly sat down, propping her chin up with one hand as she gazed at the sleeping boy before her. With her other hand, she gently touched the gold and jade bracelet on Xuan Yuanhao's wrist, murmuring, "The bracelet, the bracelet..."
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