Chapter 6: Dreams and Reflections
When Immortal Lord Qingyue was at his peak, he could even make millions of people fall into the memories of one person at the same time and then be trapped to death in the memories.
But now, her realm has plummeted. After a day and a night of rest, she has only recovered a tiny bit of her magic skills, and still needs to borrow blood and talisman paper to "trace her dreams."
The "echo" can only be returned to one person briefly.
At this moment, Dongfang Yan finally recognized that it was the alley in Shouyang County's market from Princess Qing'an's memories.
Shouyang County was the fief of Dongfang Yan's father, the previous King of Jin.
Dongfang Yan was only seven years old when he followed his father to Shouyang to be enfeoffed.
At that time, Dongfang Yan was a naughty boy. He could not stand his father confining him to the palace to study, so he often sneaked out to play. Every time he did, he would be beaten, but he refused to change his ways.
During the Lantern Festival that year, he heard that there was a grand lantern festival outside, so he dropped his books and sneaked out, taking Princess Qing'an with him.
At this moment, the scene that appeared in front of Dongfang Yan was the long street of Shouyang County.
That night, during the Lantern Festival, thousands of flowers bloomed, stars fell like rain, and the whole city was ablaze with lights.
But at this moment, Dongfang Yan didn't know what was evoked in his eyes, and he looked terrified.
Yes, he remembered.
That night, he lost his sister, Princess Qing'an, causing his mother to die with hatred...
At this moment, two children, a boy and a girl, appeared in the scene.
The boy was attracted by a riddle. He racked his brains and finally figured it out, but found that his sister was missing.
At that time, Princess Qing'an was only five years old. She was very cute and pretty. She and Dongfang Yan were born of the same mother, so the two siblings had a very good relationship.
Dongfang Yan anxiously looked for her everywhere, but the long street was crowded with people and he could not see any trace of his sister.
"Sister, sister!" The voice shouted at the top of her lungs was instantly drowned out by the bustling crowd.
"Idiot, Qing'an has been kidnapped into an alley. Go chase him in the alley, go chase him!"
In the shadows in the dream, the adult Dongfang Yan shouted loudly to his younger self.
But I was still a child back then, panicking and being pushed further and further away by the crowd.
The scene changed, and the seven-year-old Dongfang Yan disappeared, and what appeared before his eyes was the perspective of Princess Qing'an.
In a dark alley, the five-year-old Princess Qing'an was knocked unconscious and thrown into a sack.
After an unknown amount of time, she woke up and found herself in a simple carriage. Surrounded by children around her age, their hands were tied and their mouths were sealed.
An adult's voice came from outside:
"I heard that the Prince of Jin's Mansion lost a princess and they're searching the whole city for her. Could it be that she was taken away by our people?"
"Among the batch of goods that arrived today, there are indeed a few little girls who are dressed like the daughters of wealthy families."
"Ah! What should I do? Should I return the person?"
"Why? What we do is a crime in itself, and you're still trying to fall into this trap? Do you want to kill your entire clan? We've already left the city, so why not sell this batch of goods as soon as possible? Who can trace us back?"
"That's right, no matter if she's a princess or a beggar, she's just a piglet in our hands!"
A few days later, Princess Qing'an was sold to an acrobatic troupe. From a noble princess, she was transformed into an apprentice in the troupe.
She was forced to practice martial arts every day, and if she was not careful, she would be whipped.
In the circus class, some children were weak and could not endure it, and died of illness soon after.
The boss didn't care and threw it into a mass grave to feed the wild dogs.
Even Princess Qing'an once nearly died from a wound infection that caused her to burn for several days. Fortunately, she was lucky enough to survive.
In this way, after four years, Princess Qing'an began to perform on stage.
She can easily complete tasks such as balancing a large vat, going through a fire ring, and doing a handstand on stacked chairs, and is particularly good at high-altitude rope skills.
When she was standing on the high platform with gaudy makeup and exaggerated clothes, looking at the ladies and young ladies laughing and talking, she would occasionally remember that she was once a distinguished guest sitting in the audience.
As she grew older, her memories of the past became increasingly vague, and she almost forgot that she was once a princess, the emperor's niece, and the prince's legitimate daughter.
Occasionally when I think about it, I even suspect that it was just a dream.
In the blink of an eye, Qing'an grew up to be 13 years old.
That year, the opera troupe was invited by a high-ranking official to perform for distinguished guests from afar.
I heard that the distinguished guest was a prince who had just inherited the title. Because his sister liked juggling, he loved her as well.
The officials below catered to his wishes and specially invited the most famous local acrobatic troupe to perform.
That day, Qing'an wore a pink juggling costume, held a balancing pole, and staggered to the center of the tightrope.
There was applause from the audience, and a cold voice came from my ear: "Reward."
"His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin has ordered a reward!"
King of Jin!
What a familiar name! She vaguely remembered that it seemed to be her father's title.
She couldn't help but look down, and saw a man in gorgeous clothes sitting on a high seat. He had a young face, and his eyebrows vaguely resembled her father.
Not the father, but the brother!
I remembered now, I am Princess Qing'an, a royal aristocrat, not an actor for people's entertainment!
She was uneasy and her body swayed, and suddenly she fell off the rope.
The surroundings became chaotic in an instant.
There were screams, the host's dissatisfied scolding, and the troupe owner's repeated apologies.
Princess Qing'an fainted for a while and then struggled to wake up.
She tried hard to get up, wanted to run towards that person, wanted to say: "Brother, I am Qing'an, I am your sister!"
Blood came out of her mouth and she couldn't say anything.
The troupe boss was afraid of disturbing the distinguished guest again, so he quickly asked his men to carry her away.
She wanted to struggle and shout, but it was no use.
Just like when I was kidnapped by human traffickers, I felt helpless.
At the last moment before being carried away, she saw from the corner of her eye that the noble man looked unhappy, turned around and left, his back resolute.
So, he didn't see Qing'an extending his hand to him.
Nor did I hear Qing'an's silent cry:
"Brother, I want to go home... I miss my parents..."
Because the performance failed and displeased the noble, the entire troupe was driven out of the mansion in disgrace.
The troupe boss was very angry about this and scolded Qing'an and punished her by not having food for two days.
Qing'an knew he couldn't go on any longer and had to ask for help.
My brother is of noble status, and even the officials below him rarely see him, let alone ordinary people?
It's not easy for him to appear here, and it's not easy to meet him. If you miss the opportunity, you may never see him again in your life.
But Qing'an was seriously injured, especially his leg injury, so he couldn't go out.
So she asked her best friend in the troupe to help her find Prince Jin.
Two days later, Prince Jin came in person with a large number of guards.
That day, the actress who had suffered abuse since childhood was taken away, and from then on she lived a life of luxury.
What no one knew was that on the same day, a young girl with an unfortunate fate drowned silently at the bottom of a well in the courtyard of the circus troupe.
The entire acrobatic troupe was also convicted and executed.
The scene in front of him suddenly disappeared, Dongfang Yan's face turned pale, and he was unable to come back to his senses for a long time.
In the flashback of his dream, he witnessed with his own eyes his sister being kidnapped and sold into a circus troupe. He watched his sister grow up in day-to-day abuse and become... a different person.
He slowly raised his eyes and looked in a daze at the wet Princess Qing'an not far away.
But the Princess Qing'an at this moment... the Princess Qing'an whom he personally picked up from the circus troupe, was not the same as in Su's dream.
"Who are you? You're not Qing'an?"
After Qing'an was kidnapped in Su Meng, the vicious kidnappers were afraid of being discovered, so they simply poisoned and silenced all the little girls in the same group.
Therefore, Qing'an had no way to speak, and even when he met his brother again later, he could only cry and scream silently.
Later, she used sign language and took great pains to make her best friend understand what she meant.
Her partner is named "Hong Yan'er" and is also an actor in the acrobatic troupe.
Hong Yaner was also sold here.
She was originally just an ordinary farmer's daughter, and was sold because her family suffered a disaster and could no longer survive.
Hong Yan'er has had a bad temper since she was a child, and none of the actors in her class get along with her. Only Qing'an, who is gentle and taciturn, gets along well with Hong Yan'er.
After learning that Qing'an was actually a princess, Hong Yan'er immediately nodded and agreed to help.
The next day, Hong Yaner hurried back and said, "The message has been delivered! Your brother will be coming to pick you up soon. You're so dirty, do you want to wash up first?"
"Your leg is injured and you can't walk? Don't worry, I'll carry you to the well to wash. Actors are already looked down upon, and if you're dirty and smelly, what if your brother dislikes you and disowns you? He's the precious prince!"
Just like that, she coaxed Princess Qing'an to the well, and then cruelly pushed her in.
"We were both kidnapped and sold, so why do you suddenly become a princess? And I can only be a lowly actor forever?"
"You can be a princess, why can't I? You have a bad fate, you deserve to die, you can't blame me!"
When Dongfang Yan heard the news and hurried over with his men, Hong Yaner stood up with tears in her eyes: "Brother, I am Qing'an..."
When Dongfang Yan asked her how she had survived all these years, she cried and complained about being abused, forced to learn acrobatics, and said that she was almost beaten to death several times.
She coaxed Dongfang Yan into holding the entire troupe accountable, so that no one would discover that she was a fake princess.
When she was an actress, she was of low status and could be bullied by everyone.
But when she took the throne of princess, she not only enjoyed wealth and glory, but also experienced the many conveniences brought by power.
When she was unhappy, she could beat and scold the maids at will, or even sell them out and execute them.
Even people from the aristocracy had to kowtow and flatter her.
Gradually, she became more and more arrogant, forgetting her humble origins and that everything she had was stolen.
Dongfang Yan, on the other hand, felt guilty for losing his sister, and after getting her back, he became a crazy sister-doting man.
Even when she reached the age to discuss marriage, Princess Qing'an was unwilling to marry, but he still indulged and spoiled her.
But he never imagined that the sister he had doted on for many years was actually a fake.
He even saw with his own eyes in his dreams that the imposter pushed his real sister into the well and drowned her!
At this moment, he looked at the woman in front of him in disbelief: "Who are you? Qing'an, or... Hong Yan'er?"
"Are you being mysterious?" He suddenly glared at Lin Qingyue again.
At this moment, he would rather believe that it was Lin Qingyue who was behind this than accept the cruel reality.
"Instead of questioning me, why don't you see for yourself who your sister is!"
As Lin Qingyue spoke, she raised her hand and stroked it in front of his eyes, opening his Yin-Yang eyes.
Then Dongfang Yan clearly saw that there was a person lying on the back of "Princess Qing'an".
She was a girl of about 13 years old, dripping with water all over.
Seeing Dongfang Yan looking at her, she slowly raised her head, and when her wet and soft long hair slid away, a pale face was revealed.
The facial features on that face still resembled their mother's.
In an instant, Dongfang Yan's mind flashed with his mother's dying words: "Ayan, you must find your sister, you must find her!"
Because he lost his sister, his mother was depressed and died of illness within two years.
While out searching, my father accidentally fell off his horse.
Because of his willful and naughty behavior that time, he lost his younger sister and caused his parents to die early.
It's all his fault!
After many years, he finally found his sister, but it turned out to be a fake one.
And he actually doted on a fake sister, not knowing that his real sister had already become a wandering ghost and was suffering.
Just now, in order to save his fake sister, he forced Xie Shouzheng to disperse her soul so that she would never be reborn!
"Puff!" Dongfang Yan felt a sudden pain in his heart and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Qing'an...sister..." The man who had always been cold and conceited finally broke down and cried.
Qing'an's soul fell from Hong Yan'er's body, and he tilted his head and stared blankly at the crying man.
After a moment, a little expression slowly appeared on her face, and two lines of tears rolled down.
The fake princess Hong Yan'er also woke up at this moment and called out in a daze, "Brother."
"This prince saw it all. It was you who pushed Qing'an into the well. It was you who killed this prince's sister. You even pretended to be her and became the princess for five whole years! You were very happy during these five years, weren't you?"
"This prince pampers you and indulges you like a fool! Even when you injured the minister's daughter, this prince couldn't bear to scold you. In order to help you settle the matter, he even collected evidence of the minister's corruption to save you from the emperor's punishment."
"In the end, it's just raising a tiger to make it an accomplice!"
"You... know?" Hong Yan'er collapsed on the ground, stunned for a moment, then suddenly crawled over, hugged Dongfang Yan's legs and begged.
"No matter what, the feelings we've had over the past few years can't be faked."
"Brother, people are made of flesh and blood. I've never had a good life in my life. I've never met anyone who treats me well."
"You're the only person who treats me well. I'm grateful and always put you first. I see you off every day and wait for you to come home. When you're sick or injured, I take care of you day and night, wishing I could take your place."
"Since you don't like Lin Qingyue, I'll rack my brains to help you get rid of her!"
"Brother, you once asked me what kind of husband I wanted. I didn't answer then, but now I'm telling you, the husband I want is someone like you!"
"What other woman in this world understands you, respects you...and loves you as much as I do?"
"Brother, can you give me another chance? If I can't be your sister, then let me stay by your side, even as a slave or a maid."
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