The twelfth year of Yongchang, late spring.
Cui Minghai, a principal secretary at the Ministry of Works, had finally managed to take half a day off and led his ten-year-old daughter, Cui Wan, out of the house. The capital's main street bustled with people, peddlers' cries rising one after another, while the scents of steamed bread, meat soup, and stuffed buns drifted through the air.
"Daddy, I want that!" Cui Wan tilted her little face up and pointed at a candied hawthorn vendor, her eyes sparkling.
Smiling, Cui Minghai took out two copper coins and exchanged them for a string of brilliant red candied hawthorns, which he handed to his daughter. Cui Wan accepted it carefully and first stuck out the tip of her tongue to lick the translucent sugar coating, its sweetness making her eyes narrow into crescents.
"Eat slowly. Don't let it stick to your teeth." Cui Minghai ruffled the soft hair over his daughter's forehead, a surge of guilt welling up inside him. Since his wife had fallen ill, making ends meet had grown harder by the day. He spent his days on duty at the Ministry of Works and rarely had a chance to take his daughter out.
"Daddy, have a bite too!" Cui Wan stood on tiptoe and raised the candied hawthorns to her father's mouth.
Father and daughter were chatting and laughing warmly when a sudden commotion erupted at the end of the street. The crowd surged to either side like a tide. Jostled into a stumble, Cui Minghai instinctively tightened his grip on his daughter's hand. But the tide of people was too fierce. Someone slammed into them from the side, and with a little cry, Cui Wan's hand slipped from her father's grasp.
"Wanwan!" Cui Minghai's face drained of color. He desperately tried to force his way back, only to be pushed forward by the excited crowd.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Cui Wan's voice was drowned out by the noise.
Clutching her candied hawthorns, she spun like a little boat in a raging current, watching as she was carried farther and farther from Cui Minghai.
Suddenly, earth-shaking cheers erupted ahead:
"The Chu Family Army has returned victorious!"
"It's the Marquis of Ningyang! The Chu Family Army has returned to court!"
The crowd grew even more feverish. Many young women stood on tiptoe to peer ahead, chattering excitedly:
"Look, look! It's Eldest Young Master Chu and Second Young Master Chu!"
"Eldest Son Chu is so handsome. Just look at that bearing! No wonder Grand Secretary Tang's eldest legitimate granddaughter married beneath her station without a care for family standing!"
"Exactly! The Chu Family may be military men and the Tang Family upright civil officials, but who in all Chang'an doesn't call this a match made in heaven? His talent and her beauty-there couldn't be a better match!"
"Too bad the eldest son has only just married. There's no chance now. But there's still the second son! I hear Second Young Master Chu only turned fifteen this year, and he's already a commandant in the army!"
"Winning merit on the battlefield at fifteen? Who knows which family's daughter will be lucky enough to get him someday..."
"Certainly not common folk like us. We can only watch the excitement!"
Cui Wan was squeezed so tightly she could hardly breathe, her little body staggering through the crowd. Suddenly, someone shoved her hard from behind, and she fell to the ground with a thud. Her treasured candied hawthorns rolled onto the ground, where countless feet trampled them to mush.
"Wah..." Before Cui Wan could cry out, a foot came down on the back of her hand, making her gasp in pain.
More feet swept past her. She curled up in terror, great tears rolling down her face, yet she could not make a sound. Dust choked her nose and mouth, and her vision blurred.
Just when she was most helpless, a streak of silver swept across in front of her with a swish.
It was a silver spear, firmly holding back the surging crowd and carving out a small patch of safety around her.
Cui Wan timidly raised her head, her face covered in tear tracks and dust.
The silver spear's owner had tilted his head slightly to look at her.
The youth was backlit, clad in silver armor, the tiger heads carved into his pauldrons reflecting a cold gleam in the sunlight. His brows were sharply defined, the outer corners of his eyes tilting slightly upward, yet the gaze he lowered toward her was surprisingly gentle. Spring sunlight traced the contours of his face. A few stray locks had escaped his silver helmet and clung to his sweat-dampened temples.
Cui Wan stared blankly, forgetting even to cry. She had never seen anyone so good-looking, like a young general who had stepped straight out of a storyteller's tale.
When she did not move, the youth frowned slightly and extended his silver spear a little farther.
Only then did Cui Wan react. She timidly reached out her little hand, grasped the cold shaft, and slowly pulled herself to her feet. Her hand was so small that it could barely close around the shaft. Once she stood, she realized she had to crane her neck to look at him astride his horse.
"Th-thank you..." Cui Wan's voice was as faint as a mosquito's hum, still carrying a trace of lingering fear.
The youth said nothing, merely giving her the slightest nod before withdrawing his silver spear and turning his horse to catch up with the procession. It had all taken no more than an instant; the procession had not paused in the slightest.
Cui Wan stood where she was, watching that silver armor recede into the sunlight...
"Wanwan! Wanwan!" Cui Minghai finally pushed through the crowd and swept his daughter into his arms, checking her all over. "Are you hurt? You frightened Daddy to death!"
Cui Wan shook her head, her eyes still following the departing procession. "Daddy, that person... was he Second Young Master Chu?"
Cui Minghai followed his daughter's gaze and smiled. "Yes, that was Chu Moqi, the Marquis of Ningyang's second son. What, has our Wanwan been struck dumb?"
Cui Wan pressed her lips together, her little face flushing faintly, and lowered her head, lightly scuffing the ground with her toe.
Seeing this, Cui Minghai burst out laughing and patted his daughter's head. "Little girl, it's far too early for that!"
He took his daughter's hand and headed home, his tone turning wistful. "A family of the Chu Family's standing is far beyond our reach. Your grandfather is only a local county magistrate, and Daddy is merely a principal secretary at the Ministry of Works..." He paused, then rallied his spirits. "But don't worry, Wanwan. When you reach marriageable age, Daddy will find you a good, dependable family."
Cui Wan tightened her grip on her father's hand and muttered, "I don't want that."
"Don't want what?"
"I don't want anyone else." Her voice grew even softer, so soft that only she could hear it.
I don't want anyone else...
This little girl... Surely she hadn't set her heart on Second Son Chu simply because he was handsome and imposing? That would never do.
Cui Minghai sighed, took his daughter's hand again, and slowly walked home, his voice becoming especially gentle, but especially earnest too. "Wanwan, let Daddy explain something to you, all right?"
Cui Wan looked up, puzzlement in her eyes.
"This capital is like a great tree." Cui Minghai pointed to a luxuriant scholar tree beside the road. "Some people are born at the treetop. They need only lift their eyes to see the sun. Some are born on the trunk, safe and secure."
He paused, his voice growing softer. "And many more are born among the roots, buried in the soil, never seeing much light their whole lives."
"Then what about me..." Cui Wan only half understood.
"Us? We're probably... somewhere on the lower trunk." Cui Minghai smiled bitterly. "We can see the sunlight, but not much of it. It's very hard for the treetop and the trunk to meet."
Was it very hard for them to meet? Cui Wan pouted. But she had clearly just met Second Young Master Chu.
Seeing the light fade from his daughter's eyes, Cui Minghai's heart ached again. He quickly ruffled Cui Wan's hair and adopted a lighter tone:
"But our Wanwan is still young. You'll meet many people in the future. Perhaps one day, a fine young man who happens to be on the trunk too will stand shoulder to shoulder with you, admiring the scenery. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
These words were both comfort and an early warning to his daughter-to cut off that unrealistic longing.
Cui Wan did not understand what her father was saying. She merely glanced back at the now-empty end of the street, where only swirling dust and gradually fading cheers remained.
She did not know that the young man's profile had taken root in her heart from that moment on.