He never thought that he would be able to walk under the sun with his own face in his lifetime.
When I first met that man, he was still just a prince. A prince who was about to be exiled because of a fatal flaw.
The late emperor secretly took him and a dozen other people to a dark room for that person to choose the future puppet shadow.
There are no secrets in the royal family. There can only be one prince's shadow. The rest are discarded.
The moment he saw the man's face, he lowered his head in despair.
He looked so different from the other person that he wouldn't be chosen. If he wasn't chosen, he wouldn't be able to leave that room alive.
The emperor personally selected three children to come forward, but they were rejected one by one by the man.
After an unknown amount of time, he felt the feet stop in front of him.
"Look up."
The boy's voice was still a little childish but very firm.
He was so nervous and frightened that he couldn't muster up his stiff body to respond when he heard the command.
A cold hand took his hand. The hand didn't use much strength, but it was firm and firm, and pulled him up from the ground.
His sight gradually rose from the dust until it was level with the young man.
He had just taken a quick glance and failed to see it carefully, but now he realized that the boy's eyes were shiny black, seemingly black and white, but with a depth that was inconsistent with his age.
"Father, I have made my choice."
The emperor pondered for a moment and told the truth.
"This person doesn't look like you."
The boy nodded, his tone neither hurried nor slow.
"That's why I chose him. His appearance can be changed, but if his true appearance is too similar to mine, I'm worried that even my father won't be able to tell the real from the fake one."
It is not uncommon for a shadow to replace the real person.
Yet those masters still choose those who resemble themselves. That is a kind of arrogance, but also a kind of stupidity.
He thought that no one would see this truth as clearly as he did.
He just stood there silently, the dullness on his face turning into confusion.
He suddenly felt that behind those black eyes was a soul that he could never understand. For a moment, he didn't know whether he should be glad to be chosen or feel scared.
He entered the three palace walls.
Among all the shadows in the world, he is the one with the highest status.
He is the most beautiful mask, the most perfect puppet, and the most colorful kite.
But his face did not belong to him, his hands and feet did not belong to him, and the direction he wanted to go did not belong to him either.
"The happiest moment for a kite is when it is about to fly into the sky. Because at that moment it can see the sky and feels that it will have infinite possibilities and a future, not knowing that it is tied to a string, and one end of the string is in someone else's hand."
These were the words spoken to him by the half-crazy female officer who dressed him when he was still in the slave camp.
He always remembered the kite in the female official's hand, which was tattered and had half of its wings broken, and would never be able to fly into the blue sky again.
Just like him now.
Although he was wearing beautiful clothes, he would never be able to walk out of the three palace walls.
At first, he looked at the blue sky every day.
Afterwards, he just stared at the treetops.
Later, he learned to keep his eyes down forever.
His world consisted only of the large square stone bricks in the palace, one after another, with no end in sight.
Years later, the boy finally came back.
At this time, he had grown from a boy into a teenager, his figure and appearance were very different, but his eyes were still dark and deep.
"Ashan, do you know why I chose you?"
Because I don't look like you, it will be easier for me to control you in the future.
"I am stupid and don't know what Your Highness is thinking."
"You know." A cold voice with a hint of laughter sounded in his ears, "I chose you because you understand me. From the moment you looked up at me, I knew: we are the same kind of people."
Ah Shan's thoughts came to a halt because of that man's words.
Many people have said that he looks like them, with similar eyes, nose, and mouth, but no one has ever said that they are the same kind of people.
He was just a lowly death row prisoner, how could he be the same kind of person as a prince?
This must be a test for him.
"Your Highness, please forgive me for embarrassing you. I..."
He acted timidly but was interrupted by the other party.
"Do you like your face?"
He shook his head in confusion, then lowered his head in bewilderment.
He hadn't looked in the mirror for so long that he couldn't remember what he looked like.
"It doesn't matter whether you like it or not. What matters is that you remember what you look like."
Why?
No one cared what he looked like. Even he himself had stopped caring.
"If a person can't even remember what he looks like, then when he wakes up every morning, he will also have forgotten who he is. How can someone who can't even play the role of himself play the role of others?"
He was stunned, his eyes raised from the large tiles on the corridor of light to the face that he had tried his best to imitate.
The other person was looking at him, with an indescribable calmness and peace in his eyes.
"You're actually older than Weixiang. Do you still remember your father's or mother's family name?"
He shook his head slightly.
"Your Highness, the little one is an orphan, and neither his father's or mother's surnames are known."
"The word 'Shan' is too luxurious for you. Why not use it as your surname?" The young man looked at the glazed tiles on the palace wall. A magpie chick was preening its feathers in the gray-blue light of dawn, preparing for the sunrise and soaring high. "I like the feeling of everything not yet beginning. You should be called Shan Jiangfei."
Everything...hasn't started yet?
Or something started anew at this moment.
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