Chapter 32: Are You the Heavenly Maiden Who has Come to Pick Me Up?

ChengYu's few memories of his mother mostly consisted of her gentle voice and warm embrace.

"When the birds fly back home, foxes must die in their own home. Those who leave their homeland and die outside, their souls will return to their hometown despite any difficulties and dangers. If someone forgets their way back home, a heavenly maiden will come to lead them back home.”

This was the story his mother once told.

In a daze, ChengYu looked at the girl in front of him, thinking that his life had come to an end, and the maiden that his mother had mentioned had now come to lead him back home.

It's just that he never thought that the heavenly maiden who came to lead children’s souls would also be the same age.

Then, ChengYu saw the heavenly maiden slowly bend down with a smile on her delicate face. It was as sweet as the only candy ChenYu had ever eaten.

When she opened her mouth to speak, her voice was sweet as if it was soaked in honey, but her words were vicious, “Truly worthy of being a person from Cheng-guo. Just by kneeling on the snow for a moment, and he has frozen into this stupid look.”

ChengYu just stared at him blankly, it was unknown what he was thinking about.

DuYan spoke, "Useless person of Cheng-guo, are you cold? I heard that since Cheng-guo is in the south, it is warm and never snows like my Yuan-guo. The snow looks very beautiful today.”

ChengYu finally moved, barely nodding his head.

DuYan smiled more happily, "Then you can continue to stay here and watch this beautiful scenery that you’ve never seen in your country.”

After thinking for a while, he opened his mouth and said, “I don’t see any difference between Cheng-guo’s face and Yuan-guo’s face. I heard people say that the faces of Cheng-guo are a bit thicker."

After speaking, DuYan stretched out his hand and pulled on ChengYu's face, "There doesn’t seem to be much of a difference.”

ChengYu still didn't respond, as if everything around him didn't exist.

"So weak." DuYan finally felt that he had enough fun, and then straightened up.

The maidservant behind him hurriedly brought the hood of his cloak over his head. DuYan spread his hands, and the maidservant sent a clean handkerchief to his palm.

He curled his lips, "Truly dirty.”

DuYan wiped the fingers that had touched ChengYu just now, then threw the handkerchief somewhere on the ground, turned around, and left. Of course, the maid behind him knew his style, and knew that the princess thought that the handkerchief was dirty, so she didn't go to pick it back up.

ChengYu still knelt there, his head bowed as he stared at the ground blankly. His thoughts were unknown, or maybe he wasn’t thinking of anything.

DuYan turned away and took two steps, then turned around and raised his chin to the maid who was behind ChengYu, "What's wrong with this person? Was he punished to kneel here?"

The maid was not from DuYan’s palace, however everyone in the palace knew of the Princess's unruliness. If one made him unhappy it was common for him to draw a few whips at random.

The maid on the right saluted, "Prince Yu smashed Prince Jue’s beloved toy, so Prince Jue punished him by kneeling in this garden as punishment."

Prince Jue is DuYan's younger brother, born to King Yuan’s most loved Concubine Hui. Prince Jue is half of DuYan’s age, and King Yuan’s favorite son.

Everyone in this palace was afraid of Prince Jue, but DuYan was not afraid. He raised his voice and said, "I originally wanted this useless person from Cheng-guo to exercise well in my Yuan-guo, but if he was being punished by my younger brother, then I also have to…”

He didn't finish the sentence yet, and an ill-intentioned smile appeared, "Although he is a hostage sent by Cheng-guo, he is still the prince of Cheng-guo. If he suddenly dies in my Yuan-guo, although there is nothing to be scared of Cheng-guo, it would still be an hindrance to my Yuan-guo.”

He waved to the maid behind him, "Bring him to my palace."

The maid behind DuYan wanted to step forward to stop him. DuYan pulled a whip from behind, "Whoever dares to step forward, just let me try this new whip."

The footsteps of the two maids suddenly froze in place, not daring to take a step forward.

When he was carried by someone, ChengYu's consciousness was already blurred. He only felt that his eyelids were very heavy, and he was unable to keep them open.

It's just that whenever he wants to obey the exhaustion of his body and close his eyes, he would hear the girl's voice, "Useless person from Cheng-guo…”

Perhaps the contempt in the other party's voice was too strong, and it actually encouraged ChengYu to hold on without fainting.

It was unknown how long they walked. In ChengYu’s daze, he heard the girl’s voice again.

"Xiao Man, stop. Such a dirty thing, don't let it take even half a step into my hall.”

The maid named Xiao Man stopped and looked at DuYan a little at a loss, "Princess, then..."

DuYan spoke, "Strip him naked, wipe him clean with snow water, and then bring him in. He is so dirty, only snow can wash him clean.”

"Princess, we shouldn’t do that. Half his life is already gone. Wouldn’t it make it worse by wiping his body with snow?”

DuYan smiled maliciously, "He’s just a hostage. Whatever I want to do to him, do I still need to consider that small Cheng-guo?”

In ChengYu’s trance, he heard the girl’s particularly nice voice, but filled with malicious words. Afterwards, he was finally unable to resist the surging darkness and lost consciousness.

When ChengYu opened his eyes again, he felt the warmth from the floor. Everything in front of him was different from his empty house. It was extravagant to the extreme, and it was warm and beautiful everywhere, just like the heaven he imagined.

Then he heard someone push the door and enter, it was the girl he had seen before losing consciousness.

She stopped before the narrow bed and glanced at ChengYu, "Not bad, still alive."

"Are you the heavenly maiden, come to pick me up?” ChengYu’s thoughts still remained from before he had lost consciousness.

"So it turns out you’ve turned stupid from freezing. That’s why I was saying how could the people from Cheng-guo be so strong.” The girl covered her mouth, as if she was very surprised.

ChengYu stared at the beautiful girl who looked like a heavenly maiden, ran out the door, leaned out, and said something.

Afterwards, he turned around and ran back, smiling slightly, "Here’s a gift to wake you up.”

"No..." ChengYu hadn't fully expressed his refusal when he saw DuYan raise his hand and smash something towards him.

At such a close distance, ChengYu didn't even have room to dodge, and he couldn't dodge. In this palace, when being bullied, dodging would only bring about more bullying.

The next instant, he was smashed with snow all over his head and face. It was cold and biting, making ChengYu fully wake up.

This was clearly still Yuan-guo’s palace. When he was near death, he thought it was a gift that his soul was able to return to his homeland. Thinking of the voice in his ear just now, he knew that the girl in front of him was Yuan-guo’s princess.

DuYan laughed, and the laughter fell like a pearl that continued to roll on the ground.

"Since younger brother Jue hates you, then from today on, you will be my person.”

In this palace, ChengYu had no room for resistance. Even servants could insult him, not to mention the princess of Yuan-guo in front of him.

ChengYu lifted the quilt and was about to get up, only to find that he was only wearing his underwear, “Princess, where are my clothes?"

"Your clothes? That pile of tattered things? Such a thing that can not even appear on my table will never appear in my palace. I had Xiao Man throw it out.”

"..."

***

Yuan-guo folk customs were fierce. However, King Yuan felt that the descendants of nobles should not be too ignorant of the rules of etiquette and law, so he built a academy next to the palace, so that the princes, princesses, and the children of nobles would enter the academy to receive enlightenment education from the age of four.

Although ChengYu was the prince of Cheng-guo. In fact, he had never stepped out of the palace since he came to Yuan-guo three years ago. Naturally, he had no chance of entering the academy.

As the emperor who would dominate the world in the future, during the time when he was in a desperate situation, he had changed from a hostage who was plagued with dangers all around, into an ambitious emperor. ChengYu’s scheming was deep, was good at being patient, and had excellent means. How could he be an illiterate person.

In the movie’s plot, it was YuanNing who brought him to the academy.

DuYan didn't follow YuanNing's kind-hearted beautiful woman route, and wanted to implement his own domineering image, so naturally he couldn't do such empathetic things.

It's just that he had to find a reason, which was also very easy to find. There was a rule in the academy that did not allow students to bring their servants in.

As soon as the students entered the academy, these noble children who usually acted superior, had to take care of their own chores. How could the domineering eldest princess bear to do everything by herself at the academy? Although she could bully the other noble children, they couldn’t be her servant.

ChengYu was different. His identity was enough to enter the academy, and even if he was being used as a servant, he had nowhere to complain. When DuYan brought him to the entrance of the academy, no one realized that there was anything wrong.

Everyone in the entire palace knew that the eldest princess had recently acquired a new thing, the prince of Cheng-guo.

The eldest princess liked new things and her temperament was also that of loving something and taking good care of it, but once she didn’t love something, she hoped for it to die (1). At that time, she liked plum blossoms so she planted all kinds of plum blossoms in the garden. The next year, she cut down the plum blossoms and replaced them with other flowers.

Everyone who knew about this was speculating about how long the eldest princess's interest in Prince Yu would last.

The academy was full of noble children, so they were naturally well-informed.

That morning, before Master Chen arrived, all the boys gathered together to discuss the matter.

The boy in the middle stood up as he spoke, and was suddenly pulled by his companions. He frowned and was about to get angry, but then saw someone coming in.

The girl entering the door was dressed in gorgeous clothes and had an arrogant expression. If it was not the eldest princess YuanYan, who else could it be.

According to the rules of the academy, even princes, nor princesses, could bring their servants into the academy.

Today, the eldest princess was with her sister, but there was also an extra boy behind her.

That boy had to be a few years older than all the boys present. He looked very good, and it wasn’t an appearance they had seen before.

When DuYan entered the door, the noisy academy suddenly became quiet. All the boys who got together returned to their positions, and the effect was better than when the master came.

But in an instant, only one boy in traditional clothing stood in the center. He was born white, fat and very cute, but the expression he stared at DuYan with was quite fierce.

DuYan was very happy looking at YuanJue's angry look. He smiled and said, "Younger Brother Jue, have you finished the assignment assigned by Master a few days ago? If you still can’t recite it today, and get your palm beaten, then it would be really fun.”

YuanJue's face flushed red, and he rushed over a few steps to push DuYan. He raised his hand only to remember that he couldn't beat his opponent at all. The consequence of his last impulse resulted in DuYan stepping on his feet and kicking him a few times.

He couldn’t provoke DuYan, so he could only vent his anger with others.

YuanJue's eyes turned, and he raised his chubby chin, "Elder sister, Master has stipulated that no servants are allowed to come into class. If you break the rules, even as the eldest princess, Master will kick you out of the academy.”

Hearing this, DuYan turned his head slightly and looked behind him. Although ChengYu had no expression on his face, his eyes changed a little.

Sure enough, ChengYu now was still a child, not the hostage with scheming thoughts a few years later.

In the confrontation with YuanJue, DuYan was never at a disadvantage, "I know the rules of the academy much better than you. If you are not convinced, you can ask Master yourself later."

After that, DuYan stopped talking to YuanJue and led ChengYu to his position.

ChengYu knelt in front of the table and watched YuanJue jumping with anger. His thoughts surged. That Prince Jue who regarded himself as someone who insults the pigs and dogs, could only show such a weak and deceptive appearance when facing the more powerful eldest princess (2).

He lowered his head, and slightly hooked the corner of his mouth, thinking in his heart, that this was what power was.