Chapter 302: The Princess Descends the Mountain
The carriage stopped. It gave a gentle jolt. Mianmian woke up.
It was just like when she used to go to school; the bus would stop, she’d wake up, and scramble to jump off.
Just in time for her stop, she would trot a few steps, quickly merging into the crowd, thinking, “Thank goodness, I’m not late.”
She was always so sleepy when she was in school; she could even fall asleep while standing on the bus.
Her brain wasn’t that sharp, but she had to study very hard to try to be like the others, or even surpass her classmates, so she would study late into the night, never getting enough sleep, and having to wake up very early in the morning.
When she started to trot along and reached the other students, she would slowly wake up and feel cheerful.
Even though everyone wore school uniforms, she could still recognize her classmates, and occasionally someone would tap her on the shoulder.
“Jiang Mianmian, have you finished memorizing that text?”
“Ah, which one?”
“The Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River.”
“Ah, do I have to memorize it? Do I have to memorize this one too?”
Mianmian opened her eyes.
“Light as a startled swan, graceful as a swimming dragon… fleeting like light clouds veiling the moon, drifting like swirling snow in the wind… bright as the sun rising through morning mist, glowing like a lotus emerging from clear waves… shoulders as if carved, waist as if bound in white silk… with a magnificent and enchanting figure, calm demeanor and relaxed posture… draped in brilliant, shimmering silk robes, adorned with glistening jade pendants. Wearing gold and emerald jewelry, studded with bright pearls to dazzle the body…”
A living Goddess of the Luo River appeared before her.
Grandeur and beauty coexisted.
At this moment, Mianmian finally felt that she was a true princess.
Her beauty was indescribable, filled with a sense of distance.
As if she were an unreal existence.
It turned out that beauty was not just skin deep, but a feeling that radiated from the inside out, from the very bones. She was truly beautiful, making one willing to accept all her faults.
It felt as if everything she did was only right.
She was too beautiful.
It made one want to keep this beauty, to make it last forever.
One couldn’t bear the thought of her aging.
“Princess Huiyun, you are so beautiful.”
Princess Huiyun exuded an aura of total confidence; she had thought about a lot during the journey.
She felt that she had recovered, as if all the past had come back to her.
But she also felt that perhaps she was even more ill; she wanted to kill someone.
In the past, even when things didn’t go her way, she actually only tormented herself or perhaps played tricks on others; she had never tried to kill anyone.
She couldn’t even bear to hurt a snake she had raised, releasing it into the deep mountains.
But she seemed to remember that she was worried about Miaomiao, so she went back to look for it. As it turned out, Miaomiao had been raised too well by her. Once in the deep mountains, it was quickly snatched up by a bird of prey, carried into the sky, then dropped from a great height, smashed to death, and then eaten by several birds of prey, followed by the insects and small beasts below, who all shared it, and it quickly disappeared.
The law of the jungle.
She cried for a long time.
Master Jingjue hugged her for the first time, comforting her.
Master Jingjue said: “Princess, all things are equal; you and I will also fade away.”
She said: “Since we are going to fade away anyway, why don’t you try to fall in love with me? Before fading away, try to love someone. Monks believe in the emptiness of all things, but if you have never possessed anything, how can you know what emptiness is?”
The more memories she recalled, the more painful she felt, yet she also felt more vivid and beautiful.
“Call me Princess Grandma or Grandmother; you are not allowed to call me by my name. You have no sense of propriety.” Princess Huiyun’s thoughts were pulled back by the little one before her.
“Princess Grandma and Grandmother, I’m worried that calling you that will make you old; you are too beautiful.” At this moment, Jiang Mianmian sighed from the bottom of her heart.
It wasn’t just that she still had charm; she was the very embodiment of charm.
“Princess Grandma, have we arrived home?”
Mianmian felt that she had slept for quite a long time.
“We have.”
The gates of the Princesss Mansion opened one after another.
Princess Huiyun did not get out of the carriage; she stayed in it until it reached the living quarters before stopping.
The Princesss Mansion was also very large.
It was like half a small imperial palace.
And it was connected to the imperial palace.
Since the princess had returned, the Emperor probably knew immediately.
However, the Princess Consort’s residence was not next door.
Back then, when the Princess Consort requested to build a residence, he himself chose a place very far away, and the Emperor had approved it.
Mianmian thought she had arrived at her own home.
But when she got off the carriage, she found that before her eyes was a magnificent, golden palace.
This was the Princess’s palace.
On this snowy day, the palace was like a fairyland, not of this world.
As they entered the palace, groups of palace maids stood on both sides. It turned out there really were people who wore so little on a snowy day; each of them had bare shoulders and wore gauze.
The palace maids serving there were all very beautiful.
The princess liked liveliness, so there were many people serving in the Princesss Mansion.
The entire Princesss Mansion was like the world of Sleeping Beauty; with the princess’s return, the whole world came back to life.
Mianmian looked at the magnificent splendor everywhere. There were indeed handrails that were golden, and she really wanted to scrape them with a knife to see if any gold powder would fall off.
By the way, was the “Gold Powder Family” so named because there was gold powder everywhere?
Princess Huiyun saw the little one’s expression. For some reason, this little one looked fearless, and her expression and demeanor were very much like her own, very much like a princess. But how to put it? There was no sense of nobility about her at all… she had the look of someone very rich who had never seen the world.
She felt like crying, thinking it was her own fault; if she had raised her from childhood, it wouldn’t be like this.
Mianmian glanced at Princess Grandma, not knowing what she was thinking. If she knew, she would die laughing. As a successor to the core socialist values, she had a sense of ownership in everything she saw. As for lacking nobility, that was normal; inside, she was just an ordinary commoner.
She accompanied Princess Grandma to tour her grand hall and her bedroom.
The ceiling height was really a bit too high, with carved railings and jade masonry above; wasn’t she afraid it would fall down?
Hmm, she was dizzy from turning left and right, and discovered there seemed to be a door connecting to the Star-Gazing Pavilion.
The Princesss Mansion was too big to finish touring in a day.
Mianmian asked the princess: “Princess Grandma, next time I will bring my Elder Sister to tour it; Elder Sister will definitely be very happy.”
“Good, I will have people arrange fixed rooms for you sisters; you can come and stay for a long time whenever you like.”
“Princess Grandma, I have to go home at night, otherwise Father and Mother will be worried.”
“I have sent a letter to your Father and Mother; I will send you back tomorrow.”
Mianmian thought that would be fine.
“Princess Grandma, can you climb trees? I see you have many big trees here; it seems like if I climb up, I can see the imperial palace directly.”
Princess Huiyun scratched her head.
“You are not allowed to climb trees. What do you want to see the imperial palace for?”
“I have a Godfather in the palace.”
“What?” Princess Huiyun asked curiously.
“When I was little, there was an uncle who had a good relationship with Father. Because there was no food to eat—it was very poor where we lived, and we were always hungry—that uncle castrated himself and said he wanted to enter the palace to make a living. Before he left, he acknowledged me, my Elder Sister, and my Elder Brother as his godchildren. He told us that if he died, we should remember to burn paper money for him. They said Godfather survived and is living well, but I want to see for myself if Godfather is doing well.”
Princess Huiyun:…This little brat kills me without a knife.
Every sentence stabs me a thousand times.
Her heart, riddled with holes, was leaking blood everywhere, but she gradually got used to it.
“I will take you into the palace tomorrow, and you can go find your Godfather.”
“No, I have to go home tomorrow. If I don’t go home for a day, the whole family will probably be worried. I have never left Father and Mother before. I will go with you the day after tomorrow,” said Jiang Mianmian.
Princess Huiyun:…Thank you; I am both moved and want to beat her up.
It was dark.
Mianmian had an exceptionally sumptuous dinner at the Princesss Mansion with Princess Grandma.
Twenty-something dishes… she was full after one bite of each.
It was very magnificent, and some dishes were stunning to the taste.
However, it was just like eating at a high-end restaurant; after finishing, looking back, it didn’t seem as tasty as street food.
The sense of ritual was strong, but the sense of participation was lacking.
Mianmian was worried that Princess Grandma’s mental illness would worsen from being stimulated by her.
At the moment, Princess Grandma seemed a bit too excited.
She was eating a bit too much.
Looking at Princess Grandma’s physical foundation, it should be considered quite good.
However, there must be many hidden injuries and ailments.
There is a type of person who is like that, living on secreted hormones, able to ignore all kinds of pain.
A method of living through spiritual victory.
Mianmian thought about feeding Princess Grandma some spiritual spring water before going home.
So she decided to stay the night.
The princess actually ate very little on weekdays, but today she ate an unusually large amount.
She seemed to have a very good appetite.
She mainly didn’t want to be a picky eater in front of the little brat and set a bad example.
This way, if she saw the little brat being picky, she could criticize her with justification.
In order to set an example, it was really difficult for the princess.
She ate many dishes that looked healthy but didn’t taste good.
She felt a bit like vomiting.
Yet she had to eat in a dignified, grand, elegant, and noble manner in front of the little brat.
Princess Huiyun planned to finish eating, and if she couldn’t take it later, she would vomit it out.
Anyway, she had done this kind of thing before.
Mianmian handed water to Princess Grandma, and the princess drank it with gratification.
This child, naughty as she was, was still very filial.
That night.
She told the little brat many stories before finally coaxing her to sleep.
Princess Huiyun felt that taking care of children was too hard.
She felt more and more that Lady Qin was not easy. Not only did Lady Qin raise three children so well, but she also adopted Xiao Cong. She should reward Lady Qin with more things; she saw that her attire was too plain.
Just now, she had been pestered by the little brat and hadn’t gone to induce vomiting. At this moment, she felt it had all been digested and couldn’t be vomited out.
Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly felt a churning in her stomach.
She seemed to have eaten something that upset her stomach.
As one gets older, one has to admit it; after eating those kinds of things, her stomach couldn’t handle it.
Princess Huiyun ran wildly to the washroom.
She had diarrhea until she was exhausted; it just wouldn’t stop. Sitting on the toilet, she smelled a foul odor all over her body.
She felt fortunate in her heart that the little brat was asleep, otherwise the little brat would have popped out with a sentence: “Princess, please poop.”
She wasn’t sure if she would actually take action.
Princess Huiyun tossed and turned for most of the night. Fortunately, she always had people serving her. Princess Huiyun was cleaned up, lay down beside the little brat, and fell asleep.
At dawn, Mianmian opened her eyes and looked at the great beauty lying beside her, her long hair spread out, her skin like jade, her figure undulating. She was lying on her side next to her, and Mianmian’s breathing faltered for a beat.
She was startled; in that moment, she really felt like a stunningly beautiful female ghost was hugging her while she slept.
Princess Huiyun opened her eyes, looking a bit dazed. She looked at the little one in her arms before waking up completely.
Mianmian felt her heartbeat was a bit fast. There really were ageless goddesses in this world; she grew up eating spiritual spring water, and the peak was just like this.
But this Princess Grandma, every move she made, was naturally invincible. It seemed that after drinking the spiritual spring water, it just wiped away the dust on her, making her even more beautiful and enchanting. Even she, a girl, was embarrassed to look too much.
“When will you send me home, Princess Grandma?”
“What’s the rush? Your Father has to attend the morning court today. We will go back together after he finishes court,” Princess Huiyun yawned and said lazily.
Mianmian took the opportunity to roll away a bit.
Princess Huiyun: “What are you running for? We’ve already slept together for a whole night.”
“Princess, you are too beautiful; I’m worried I might fall in love with you.”
Princess Huiyun gritted her teeth. She wanted to beat someone up first thing in the morning. She was so well-behaved when asleep, but as soon as she woke up, this little brat started talking nonsense.
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