The three girls were all at the age where they loved to look good. After the original owner came to the Qin family, she had acquired quite a few pieces of jewelry and clothes, but what girl wouldn't want even more? Qin Rong never wore jewelry in front of the two sisters. Sometimes, she would even deliberately lead the two sisters to her room to see her old clothes, and then give them to the two sisters under the pretext that she couldn't wear them anymore.
While the two sisters always looked glamorous when they went out, Qin Rong's plain and simple appearance naturally caught people's attention, further confirming that Qin Rong was having a hard time under her stepmother's care. As a result, people would often secretly send Qin Rong things, but they would all end up in the hands of the two sisters.
By the time the original owner's mother noticed, Qin Rong had already moved into the attic and was helping out at the farm every day, wearing a drab gray shirt. When the original owner's mother asked the two sisters what had happened, the two sisters said that Qin Rong had given it to them, and Qin Rong just kept her head down and weakly echoed the two sisters' words.
The original owner's mother knew what kind of person her child was, but she didn't believe things were that simple. She only said to let Qin Rong return to her original life, but she didn't know how fast gossip spread in this small country. Even the royal family treated it as a joke.
People in this country were still relatively simple and honest at the time. After hearing about the abuse of the Qin family's orphaned daughter, the farm run by the original owner's mother almost went out of business. The two sisters were also confined at home and not allowed to go out. At this time, Qin Rong would occasionally go out for a ride on horseback.
During one of her horseback rides, Qin Rong encountered Prince Yuan Feng, who was out hunting. Yuan Feng was the king's only son and had seen many women since childhood, but he had never met a girl as delicate yet strong as Qin Rong. He was immediately captivated by her, concealed his identity, and talked with her. After returning home, he couldn't forget her.
When the king proposed that Yuanfeng marry a princess from another country, he said he already had someone he loved, but he didn't know her name yet. The king was curious about what kind of woman could catch his eye and wanted to send someone to investigate, but he said he would leave it to fate and insisted on holding a grand ball for all unmarried women in the country to attend, where he would choose his bride.
The king couldn't bear to refuse the prince's proposal, but secretly instructed him to contact the kings of neighboring countries and invite the princesses to participate. Perhaps his son would take a liking to one of the princesses.
Upon hearing about the ball, the original owner's mother and two sisters were very excited and, of course, didn't forget to tell Qin Rong. While the three of them were busy discussing what to wear to the ball, Qin Rong simply smiled and didn't participate in the conversation. However, she later secretly asked a friend of her father's to make a tulle dress.
Like all girls her age, the original owner secretly dreamed of meeting her prince charming, falling in love with him, and marrying him. So when the mother and her two daughters arrived at the king's castle by carriage and saw the handsome prince, the original owner almost immediately fell in love with him. At this moment, Qin Rong, who was pretending to be unwell, appeared at the ball in full regalia at the last minute, so dazzling that the original owner and her mother dared not associate her with Qin Rong.
The ball was to last for three days. When Qin Rong entered, the prince's gaze was completely fixed on her, and he could no longer see any other girls.
Upon hearing this part of the story, Xiang Wan almost immediately thought of the real-life movie "Cinderella," and she was Cinderella's sharp-tongued second sister in the animated film.
If the ending were like in the movies, where Cinderella marries the prince and simply severs ties with her stepmother and stepsisters, living their own lives, that would be fine. But here, the story isn't over yet.
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