Every time summer begins, the nightmares of the snow begin to increase.

She had been waking up from her dreams for days on end, as she did today, and all because of the same dream.

In the dream, there is a beautiful woman, a little boy who is pitiful, the cry of a little girl, and the only reassuring orange fragrance that wafts from nowhere.

Xue knew that this was not a dream.

Everything happened on a summer night when she was nine years old, and she was the little girl, the maid's mouth, the little boy's royal sister, the boy's princess, the emperor's daughter Sima Liao-Sima Yixue.

That dignified woman was her mother's concubine - Tao Guifei, Tao Luoyang.

The little boy is the other of the twins, her twin brother - Sima Ji.

And now she is named Tao Xi.

inherited her mother's surname, but she felt that the word "snow" was too cool, and she just wanted to incarnate into the warm sun in that winter, so she took the homophonic word "Xi", which is also a blessing.

When I said goodbye to my mother that night, it has been seven years.

Now that she is sixteen years old, she is in the prime of her life, and she is much taller, but her hair has become much shorter. I followed my mother's advice - live well, but I couldn't be with my younger brother Sima Ji.

When she was nine years old, it was a catastrophe for Yi Xue, and her life was twisted into an untiring knot.

She left her mother that night, and lost her brother the next night.

After being knocked unconscious on the night I left the palace, some things I don't remember very clearly.

I only remember that when I woke up, I was already in the carriage with my brother, and then I was assassinated the next night, and Uncle Jinghuang's lieutenant helped them escape to the town, and handed her the satin bag, and the scarlet eyes were full of murderous energy, and the last words to her were - "Run!" ”。

It was here, in Kaifeng Town, where Yi Xue is now staying, that she lost her younger brother Sima Ji.

It happened to be Tanabata that day.

On the night of Tanabata, the street market in the town is brightly lit and crowded, and it is peaceful.

On nights like these, children like them who run away in a panic are also regarded as a chase game between children, and do not attract the attention of others. But Sima Ji was weak since he was a child, and he didn't run long before he was out of breath, so Ji Xue let him hide in a nearby basket, and he ran to the end of the alley in one breath and hid under the pier of the ferry.

Later, when the market dispersed, when Yi Xue went back to look for Sima Ji, Sima Ji disappeared and the basket disappeared together.

Yi Xue panicked all of a sudden, as if she was struck by a thunderbolt, her mind was blank, and she was staring blankly at the empty street corner, and the mother concubine said, "You have to live well with your brother." The voice kept ringing in my ears

She stood there at a loss, afraid to go back to the carriage, nor to stay alone in the deserted streets, so she had no choice but to hide under the bridge again.

Yi Xue was afraid that she would be caught while she was asleep, so she stared at the Tanabata river lanterns that floated into the distance, counting the number of river lanterns over and over again. When the sky turned white, she couldn't hold it anymore, so she fell asleep.

After waking up, she continued to wander around the town, looking for Sima Ji, and then returned to the bridge at night.

Every day.

And days of hiding and searching made Yi Xue tired, and finally one day, when she was wandering in the streets and alleys during the day, because of physical exhaustion, she fainted in front of the current bookstore, and was taken in by the kind bookstore head Wei Shuo.

Looking back, the night before she left the palace, she vaguely felt strange, there were fewer palace people coming and going, and Brother You didn't come to look for their brothers and sisters for a while, and from a distance, she could see that her father's palace was covered with dark clouds and smoke, and she smelled a strange smell of medicine, which was mixed with bitterness, choking your throat like drinking ice and blood, and then paralyzing your nerves, muscles, and viscera a little bit. Yi Xue never dared to approach.

Now, when she is free, she feels heartache every time she thinks of her father's situation, her mother's expression and her younger brother's appearance.

The accumulated pain seems to have turned into a mandala that blooms in her heart, wanting to get closer to the truth, but she is afraid that if she gets close, she will lose hope.

At first, when she first arrived at the bookstore, Yi Xue was completely reluctant to speak, Wei Shuo said that she just curled up in the corner, gave water to drink, gave porridge and porridge, slept when she was sleepy, and looked at the door blankly the rest of the time, occasionally crying, occasionally chuckling, which scared him a lot.

Later, Wei Shuo thought of a lot of ways, and even bought a rattle that only children can play with to attract her attention, but Yi Xue ignored him, and he almost wondered if Yi Xue was mute or demented or crazy.

At that time, Yi Xue even just wanted to float farther and farther with the water of the Bianhe River, where there might be a father, a mother, and a younger brother, but whenever she wanted to step into the water, the dark eyes of the concubine would appear in front of her that night, and that was the first time she saw her mother showing such a look, and her mother, who was usually smiling like a flower, asked her to live so strictly, thinking of this, she had to retreat again.

The turning point of events was a piece of transcription.

On that day, Wei Shuo was transcribing a long poem for others, and the transcription paper fell to the feet of Yi Xue with the wind, and Yi Xue glanced at it and found that it was the poem of Cai Yan, the favorite literati of the concubine, called "Sad and Indignant Poem".

Yi Xue only knew his name but didn't know who he was, and the mother concubine had been reluctant to say more.

picked it up and took a closer look, and Yi Xue realized that Cai Yan's "Poem of Grief and Indignation" was written about her own ups and downs in her life.

Yi Xue has been carefree until she was nine years old, and the mother she knows is also the eldest lady of the Tao family, although she is not a famous family, but she is also the daughter of the main house, she is both talented and beautiful, and she has not suffered since entering the palace.

In contrast, Cai Yan, she left her parents and separated from her son, and every time she parted, it was far away. But even if you are displaced, even if you are grieving, you will try to live step by step.

She didn't quite understand why the mother concubine liked this ill-fated literati, perhaps, the mother concubine also hoped that she could be like Cai Yan and keep struggling and facing her fate?

……

Yi Xue slowly stood up with the transcription paper, but because of the long sitting, she almost fell. Fortunately, at this time, Wei Shuo, who came in from the outside with a tea bowl, happened to see this scene and rushed over to help her.

Yi Xue silently moved to Wei Shuo's bookcase and sat down, polishing the pen, grinding, paperweighting, writing, everything was like flowing water, and she transcribed the "Poem of Grief and Indignation" in the words that her mother taught her.

Wei Shuo was shocked, he couldn't imagine that this gray-faced yellow-haired child could still write a good hand, and he was speechless at once, and when he didn't think about it, the teacup in his hand was not held steady, and the water in the cup was like a frightened bird, and he hit his head on the transcription paper of Yi Xue's "Poem of Grief and Indignation", and the ink quickly blurred.

Wei Shuo thought to himself, it's over, this kid has finally become normal, could it be that he has been stimulated and completely crazy, he scratched the back of his head nervously, thinking if he could do something to remedy it.

Yi Xue was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed, got up, and saluted Wei Shuo.

Wei Shuo was completely blindsided and looked at her blankly.