Chapter 3 Homeland
The moon was slanting, the night wind was rustling, and she stood in the darkness for a long time, until she managed to concentrate her mind and slowly broke free from her trance.
She turned and walked towards the courtyard of the palace where she lived. The shadows of flowers swayed in the moonlight around her. In such a peaceful night and such a gentle scene, she felt something strange.
In a corner without wind, how do the shadows of flowers move without wind?
She stopped, slowly turned her head, and looked warily at the lush pomegranate tree beside her.
The pomegranate flowers are bright red in the moonlight, as red as fire and blood, making the quiet night seem to be tinged with a bit of sharp and murderous aura.
What disturbed her even more than the flowers and the moon was a human figure hidden behind the blossoming trees.
The gloomy figure did not move, and it was unknown how long he had been standing there.
His figure was against the moonlight, Qiandeng could not see his face and expression, only his deep and profound eyes, as if they had penetrated countless time, shone on her like the cold moon at this moment.
Qian Deng's breathing stagnated and he couldn't make any sound for a long time.
He did not speak, letting the silence remain at a distance that was neither too far nor too close.
All sounds disappeared in the quiet night.
She thought he must have seen the tangle between the prince and her just now. But neither of them made a sound, and they just stared at each other silently under the cold moonlight.
In this dream-like situation, she didn't know whether what she saw was an illusion or she really saw the person who, even though she knew they had broken up, suddenly appeared in her mind again and again.
In sunny skies and rainy days, in dreams at midnight, on the journey westward, and when she was caught off guard for no reason, everything she had experienced with him would always suddenly appear before her, just like now.
But what does it matter whether the person in front of me is real or fake?
What could they say? What should they say? He had deceived her and tried to destroy the most important thing in her life. He had been expelled by her in the most decisive way.
They can never go back to the way they were before.
The only thing we can do is to look at each other for a moment across the shadows of the flowers in this darkness. It is as hazy as a dream, and we have no connection from now on.
Qiandeng turned his head fiercely, as if he had discovered nothing and nothing had happened, and stepped into the courtyard.
The night deepened, the dew grew heavier, and the stars poured down. The distant noise from the front yard could still be heard faintly.
She leaned against the door and took a deep breath. Facing Daimao's puzzled gaze, she tried to keep her voice calm: "Lock the gate and ignore the outside world. Let's rest."
Knowing that he had returned home safely, she should let go of her last worries and there should be nothing left that she couldn't let go of.
Leaving the Beiting Protectorate and heading west along the south of the Tianshan Mountains, they entered the Anxi Protectorate.
Since Qiandeng's great-grandmother, Queen Guishan, led Kucha to submit to the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty used Kucha as its capital, established the Anxi Protectorate, and began to govern the Western Regions.
From the Zhenguan period to the Kaiyuan period, the prosperous Tang Dynasty opened up a magnificent chapter in the Western Regions, and Kucha became the most prosperous place on the Silk Road because of its important position.
Until the An Lushan Rebellion ended the Tang Dynasty's heyday, the Western Regions fell into decades of chaos, and Kucha declined. Her grandfather left his homeland alone to join the Tang Dynasty's rebellion suppression team. From then on, he was no longer the little prince of Kucha, but the Prince of Changhua of the Tang Dynasty.
He fought for his beliefs across the vast land and died in the Tang Dynasty. In the end, she escorted his clothing and spirit tablet back to his homeland.
Traveling along the Tianshan Mountains, she encountered the magnificent scenery her grandfather had once described to her when she was little—a sea of flowers stretching for hundreds of miles, as brilliant as brocade, towering and majestic snow-capped mountains that hadn't melted for thousands of years, and a long river on the grassland that reflected eighteen sunsets in its winding course...
They trekked day after day until towering cliffs as red as the sunset glow appeared in front of them, and everyone couldn't help but look excited.
The summer sunlight makes all colors particularly vivid. The sunlight shines on the famous Kuqa Grand Canyon. The vermilion, red, ochre and rose red mountain walls are like blazing flames, with brilliant colors, painting a colorful road to Qiuci for them.
After passing through the gorgeous Danfeng Canyon and drinking the clear water of the Yunv Spring, the Kucha Royal City is right in front of you.
The current king of Kucha, Qiandeng's great uncle, was leading all the civil and military officials of the country and waiting outside the city.
Seeing the Tang Dynasty troops coming out of the valley, the ceremonial officials immediately came forward and guided the carriages and horses to the city gate.
Amid the cheers of the people, young men and women in their best clothes played the pipa and the xiao and performed passionate dances. The King of Kucha, along with his princes and nephews, greeted them respectfully with smiles on their faces.
The Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty got off the car to greet the royal family. Under the guidance of the ceremonial officer, he washed his hands in the basin of water presented by the national teacher himself, and the host and the guests toasted each other and drank.
State affairs came first. After welcoming the crown prince into the city, Qiandeng's eldest cousin, Bai Zhaojue, now the prince of Kucha, brought his younger siblings to the rear convoy to comfort Qiandeng.
Since the rebellion broke out, the Western Barbarians have been eyeing to annex Qiuci. Anxi has been at war for years, and many uncles and uncles have died in the wars, and the royal family has become scarce.
In addition to him and his sister Bai Zhaosu, there are two nephews, who are the sons of the deceased third uncle and are still young.
Several cousins gathered together, most of whom inherited the gorgeousness of Queen Guishan. The elders and the young complemented each other, which made the people of Kucha sigh with admiration.
"Is this county lady of the Tang Dynasty the only descendant of Prince Changhua?"
"They really look like her. She looks like her grandfather, Prince Changhua, and her great-great-grandmother, Queen Guishan..."
Qiandeng listened to the familiar yet unfamiliar Kucha language around him, and an uncontrollable surge of warmth surged in his heart.
It was familiar because she had learned the Kucha language from her father and grandfather since she was a child; it was unfamiliar because in her seventeen years of life, she had never heard so many people speaking the language she had learned but rarely used at the same time.
But in almost every sentence they spoke, there was a word she was familiar with, King Changhua.
That was the people of her homeland cheering for the return of her ancestors, occasionally mixed with pronunciations that seemed a little strange due to unfamiliarity. "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" - they used the language of their homeland to speak of her who escorted the clothes and spirits of her ancestors back to their homeland.
In an instant, her eyes were filled with tears.
Perhaps, this is the meaning of her journey of thousands of miles to return to this unfamiliar homeland of her ancestors.
The prince's carriage has set off again and is about to enter the royal city.
Qiandeng hurriedly finished greeting his cousins and when he turned back to get into the car, he heard a low, panicked cry.
She looked down and saw that her little cousin had been pushed by someone and hit the wheel. A red swelling with mud marks appeared on her face.
Qian Deng hurriedly supported her. Seeing that she was thin and weak, and had been exposed to the summer sun for so long, her eyes were a little confused.
She leaned over and asked softly, "Can you walk? Come ride with me?"
The girl opened her mouth timidly but didn't dare to speak.
Qiandeng then led her into the car, letting her lean against the cushions. He then poured her some cool tea from the kettle, held it to her lips, and gestured for her to drink some to cool off. "You are my little cousin, right? I remember your name is Zhaosu?"
Bai Zhaosu nodded and drank his tea slowly, his deer-like eyes staring at her, his clear eyes showing the panic that had not yet subsided.
Qian Deng took a handkerchief, wet it, and gently wiped the mud off her face. He looked at her carefully in the slightly heaving car: "Then you are thirteen years old this year."
But the Bai Zhaosu in front of him was exceptionally thin, and looked smaller than an average thirteen-year-old child.
Bai Zhaosu held the cup timidly, his voice low and hoarse, "Yes, I'm thirteen, but everyone says...that I'm immature, that this is retribution for killing my mother..."
Qiandeng suddenly remembered that this little cousin Bai Zhaosu was born in utero (note: a child is born with the feet coming out first), and the queen died in childbirth because of this.
It seems that this child was suffocated by being stretched during birth. Although he did not die, he was born with congenital damage and his development was slower than others.
Looking at her timid appearance and thinking about how she didn't dare to say a word even after being pushed down by her brothers, Qian Deng could imagine how she usually was treated.
She subconsciously raised her hand and gently stroked the scar on her eyebrow, looking at the girl who had the same ominous name as herself.
However, she can still break free from the cruel fate and see the light of day one day, but the little cousin in front of her has to bear the lifelong disability and the crime of killing her mother, and trek in the dark river of fate.
Because of the same experience, she felt a sense of sympathy for the girl in front of her, and stretched out her arms to embrace her small body.
The carriage moved slowly forward, heading towards the palace. The people of Kucha followed the carriage, following the clothing and spirit tablet of King Changhua, and paying homage to Kucha's most immortal hero.
The noise outside the window gradually gathered until the carriage carrying the coffin slowly stopped in front of the palace.
The Kucha Palace stands majestically. Burned to the ground in a fire over fifty years ago, it now stands tall again beneath the azure sky, with no trace of the Changhua Queen Mother's fall left.
Qiandeng got off the car and, together with all the members of the Kucha royal family, welcomed the spirits of their ancestors back to their country.
On the packed plain in front of the palace, and in the surrounding streets and alleys, the sounds gathered, accompanied by the music welcoming the distant guests, and gathered into the cheers of tens of millions of people.
The little prince of Kucha, the King of Changhua of the Tang Dynasty, is back!
In this homeland where people from the Tang Dynasty, Kucha, Persia, and India gather together, Qian Deng's eyes were filled with tears as he listened to thousands of people calling out for his grandfather in unison.
With tears in her eyes, she looked up at the spirit tablets of her ancestors, at the city with a completely different style, and at the thousands of Kucha people who were mourning devoutly before her, and murmured, "Mother, I am following your last instructions... and returning home."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com