People in the world often say that the first-class prince and the second-class marquis, my father is the only prince of the country in the thirteenth year of the Tianyuan Dynasty, and I am his youngest daughter and the only concubine.

I have been brilliant since I was a child, I can read and hyphenate at a young age, and even my brothers find obscure articles I only need to read a few times to memorize them word for word, and I am familiar with each other and understand the meaning of the text.

I am the pride of my father, I have to show off a few words to everyone, my brothers and sisters are raised by their respective biological mothers, and I am the only one who is raised under his knees.

He said that although my brothers and sisters are not mediocre, they are not outstanding, they are slightly better than the children of ordinary people, and only I am the most like him.

But I don't remember any of this, my memory starts with Master Konghui.

When I first met Master Konghui, I was only three years old, and my father and the master were talking about the scriptures in the main hall, and a few young monks accompanied me to play under the Bodhi tree in the courtyard.

The incense in the Zen temple is continuous, the Buddha statues in the temple are all trimmed with great magnificence, and the solemnity that enters the eyes makes people dare not look at more. The master was wearing a washed and somewhat faded Zen robe, with a gray beard, and when he walked towards me, there was a dazzling light behind him, and his hands seemed to stretch out from the light: "The little donor is quite Buddha-like, can you want to enter my Buddha's door?" ”

I have never seen such a pair of hands, the traces of time are wrapped around the fingers, vicissitudes and depths, as if they can move fate.

I stretched out my hand, and before my fingertips touched the light brought out by the master, my father quickly picked it up, and said angrily: "You old monk! ”

The master only smiled slightly, and had the same deep meaning as the golden Buddha in the main hall, and he didn't say much.

When he was four years old, there was a flood in the south, which flooded many farmhouses and crops. Although the imperial court allocated a lot of money and food, but a drop in the bucket, a large number of refugees dragged their families to the north to survive, and recently, a lot of them have come to the capital one after another.

My mother and I had just come out of the carriage when the guard at the door was pouring water for an unkempt beggar. The beggar was more pitiful than I had ever seen before, his coarse linen clothes barely covered his body, his arms sticking out of his cuffs like bamboo poles, and his face was so thin that only his high cheekbones remained. The dark pattern of the box carved under his feet was clean and tidy, and I couldn't help but take a second look.

The mother also took a look at it and asked him what it contained, and the beggar opened it, and there were neatly painted puppets inside, dressed in fine clothes and exquisite.

After that, the man lived in my house, and spent most of his time carving and polishing puppets with a knife, and occasionally playing with silk in a corner of the eaves. I was lying on the attic next to me watching, he suddenly looked up, and was hitting my sight that I didn't have time to dodge, and he was not annoyed, and waved me down.

He had a very strong accent, and I smiled if I didn't understand, and the big maid who accompanied me came to him, and I told him that I was leaving, and he seemed to understand, and put down the silk thread that controlled the puppet in his hand, and took out the most delicate one from the puppet on the side and gave it to me. I shook my head and said, "A gentleman doesn't take away people's love." He continued to shove it into my hand, and I couldn't get rid of it, so I had to take it.

That day, I couldn't sleep for a long time while watching the puppet placed at the head of the bed, and the next morning I took the most peculiar red stone in the box and gave it to him. The stone itself is quite angular, and there is no luster on the body, but there are a few spots mottled with a lustrous red, which is very beautiful. Mother said that there was a red jade inside, which was rare, let alone such a large one.

He didn't refuse, and when he left, he gave me a silver collar with a translucent red jade in the middle. He seemed to know my concerns, and pulled out an identical piece of ruby from his bosom.

He put it on me, and I could take off a piece of it inlaid with ruby, and I liked it so much that I ran all the way to show my mother.

The mother said that this is a long-life lock, her hometown is hot and humid, and the child is very easy to get sick, so the elders put a long-life lock on the child's body to lock the soul and prevent Hades from easily taking it away.

Her fingers remained on the longevity lock, and there was an indescribable sensation in her eyes, as if she was wrapped in a thick cloud.

I really didn't like her expression, but she pressed my hand off the collar and whispered, "It's beautiful, wear it." ”

In the blink of an eye, my mother was busy with the congratulatory gifts of each family, and I played in the yard by myself. The servants under the porch were busy preparing the New Year's goods, and boxes of things were moved into the Guogong Mansion like a stream, and I approached curiously, and the leader in charge of purchasing turned out a machine box and several strange objects from the large and small boxes. I've never seen anything like it, so I asked him where he got it. He said that the evenings were very lively these days, and merchants from all over the world came with the envoys, and the program lasted from sunset until late at night, and then slowly dispersed, and these were all bought by him at the stall.

I listened very longingly, and clamored for my mother to take me, but she was disturbed by me, so she asked my second sister to take me out.

Guogong Mansion is still some distance from the busiest place in the city, so we took a car for a while and came down to Zhenghe Street. The second sister coaxed me to wear an extra coat, but I thought the clothes were too thick and refused to wear them.

The last time I saw so many people was the birthday banquet of the old lady of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and many civil and military officials came, and even the emperor sent someone to give a birthday gift. But here it is different, there are all kinds of people walking down the street, I can smell the fat powder on the ayara, and I can also smell the smell of sweat on the torn cotton jacket.

The stalls of the small vendors on both sides were buying food that I had never seen before, and when the cages were lifted, they were steaming hot, and the smell made people's hearts tremble, and they refused to move half a step. But my mother didn't allow me to eat outside, and my second sister would never buy it for me, so I stood for a while and left.

I think one day when I grow up, my mother will no longer care about me, and I must come to have a good meal!

As I walked, the second sister suddenly stopped, and when I looked up, there was a big tree in front of me, and I was afraid that it was hundreds of years old. Although it is cold in winter, the branches are covered with red ribbons, and the wind blows all over the trees and sways, and there is a bit of an ethereal fairyland feeling under the moonlight and lights. The second sister stared at me for a long time, and then said to me, "Sister go over there to buy something, can you wait for me here for a while?" I nodded.

She walked very fast, and within a few steps she was obscured by people coming and going. There was a bustle of people coming and going, and I was suddenly a little scared, afraid that she would leave me here, afraid that she would be overwhelmed by the crowd and never come back, so I chased in the direction she left. She was really gone, I didn't see her until I ran under the tree, the servants hurriedly coaxed, I refused to listen, just look for the second sister.