Volume 1 Chapter 19: The Mysterious Man
"Mother, today is my 14th birthday, take me to town with you." An Xin hung onto An Su Su's arm and begged.
"There's only one more year until you're an adult, and yet you're still acting like a spoiled child. I'm embarrassed for you." An SuSu glanced at An Xin, who was half a head taller than her, and her gaze fell on her face, causing her to lose focus for a moment before she shook her head with a faint smile.
After four years, her delicate face has become even more beautiful. Her smooth and lustrous complexion is adorned with clear features, her bright eyes are crystal clear and yet still retain their charm, her small nose is upturned, her lips are thin and delicate like cherry blossoms, her skin is as smooth as jade, crystal clear and translucent, and her elegant face is accompanied by a radiant smile, making her an absolute beauty.
Only that slightly thicker, yet elegant eyebrow added a hint of heroism to her brow, and as she gazed at An Xin's increasingly similar appearance, An Su often found herself lost in thought.
"Mother, don't you think I'm very pretty? A daughter takes after her mother, it's all your credit." With a complacent raise of an eyebrow, the gentle and delicate demeanor she had maintained for so long suddenly disappeared, and her bright, beautiful eyes sparkled, making An Su Su unable to look away.
"Your biggest advantage is that you're good at flattering people." An Su Su rolled her eyes, having been influenced by An Xin's unrefined behavior, she too had become quite skilled at it.
She felt relieved and noticed her mother's intention to let go, so she quickly prepared herself to continue playing to the best of her abilities.
"Don't worry, I'll go to the market first." Liu Xuan, who was passing by An Xin's house, couldn't help but think of her and ran in to see the situation inside, saying so under the pretext of greeting.
"Just go then, what's it to me? I'm not the village head Wang." An Xin was startled by this sudden loud voice and his carefully thought out words disappeared, he felt somewhat displeased and angrily said.
Wang Ma Zi was the only family in the village with a horse-drawn carriage. Every time someone went to the market, they had to inform him in advance. When there were enough people to fill the carriage, he would drive the horses towards the town.
"Rude." An SuSu pinched her little hand, warning.
"Mother, why don't we go to town with Big Mouth instead?" An Xin suggested with a smile.
"My name is Liu Xuan." The Liu Xuan standing by the door shrank his head and protested in a low voice, this was already the nth time to remind An Xin, but it seemed that every time had no effect, she still called him as usual.
"Xiao Ming, it's Xiao Ming after all." An Xin was about to repeat the same excuse he used before to hurt him, but caught a glimpse of his mother's threatening gaze out of the corner of his eye and quickly changed his words.
"Alright, since you want to go, let's go together. Your clothes are a bit small, I'll make you a new set while we're at it." An Su saw that her wide sleeves revealed a small section of jade-white skin and furrowed her brow. Making clothes was still more accurate when done personally, taking measurements and cutting the fabric herself. In previous years, she had relied on estimating the sizes in her mind, which inevitably resulted in some ill-fitting garments.
"That's great!" With a sigh of relief, seeing her mother finally agree, she was overjoyed and let out a cheer. After thinking for a moment, she ran into the house and picked up the rouge and powder that her mother had bought for her last year to "make herself up". Soon, in front of the copper mirror appeared a woman with thick black eyebrows, a face full of freckles, and a waxen yellow complexion.
Finally satisfied with a glance at the person in the mirror, she walked out of the inner room with peace of mind.
An Su thought she had forgotten something and was waiting at the door, chatting with Liu Xuan from time to time.
"Are you... at peace?" Liu Xuan was taken aback, staring at the woman who had just walked out of the house, and after a long pause, he asked in disbelief.
"Relax, what's with the getup?" An Su Su looked her up and down from head to toe. The clothes were still the same as before, the hairdo was still the one she had styled herself that morning, but her looks were a far cry from the stunning beauty she once was.
"In these times, there are many people like Dengtu Zi, I'm just being cautious. Seeing that both mother and daughter were stunned, I knew that my disguise was still quite good. This is only a basic transformation of appearance, but it's enough to deceive ordinary people."
She nodded in agreement, this daughter of hers was thoughtful and meticulous in her actions. A country girl from the mountains, she had grown up to be so beautiful, if no one protected her, who knows what kind of riffraff on the streets would have designs on her.
"Let's go." An Su held onto her little hand and called out to Liu Xuan, who was still standing there like a wooden puppet, as she walked towards the village entrance.
The mountain village roads are clean and tidy, with no litter or debris. At night, the doors are not closed, as everyone in the village is a farmer or villager, so there's no need to lock up for fear of theft.
On the horse cart, hunchbacked Wang Ma sat outside holding a whip carefully driving the horse on the road, slowly passing through the bumpy and uneven small path.
Inside the carriage, An Xin leaned against the wall with her eyes closed, listening to her mother explain to the other people in the carriage why she had such an unusual and ugly appearance today. She found it somewhat amusing until someone mentioned wanting to propose a marriage for her, at which point she suppressed the smile in her heart. Her eyeballs rolled around in their sockets as she thought to herself: The system of monogamy is unreliable, let alone the ancient system of having multiple wives. This system that ruins people's lives turns happy families of three into polygamous marriages where mistresses can openly intervene.
Don't worry about it, anyway, Mother had already made it clear that she would only start arranging for marriage when I turned 16. Although it's a bit late by ancient standards, in that remote mountain village, girls who married and gave birth late were the norm, so starting at 16 was still considered normal.
In the swaying and shaking carriage, I was drowsy on the way, not knowing how long had passed, until I heard Wang Ma Zi outside say "we've arrived", then slowly opened my eyes.
After getting off the bus, An Su paid for the fare and discussed with Wang Ma where to meet them at what time. After finishing their discussion, they held hands and made their way through the surging crowd, heading straight for the tailor's shop.
With a curious look in her eyes, she gazed around, this was just a small town called Chunyun, so the streets were not very spacious. On both sides, there were vendors calling out to passersby, and the road was crowded with people rubbing shoulders and treading on each other's heels, their faces wearing different expressions as they hurried or strolled about.
Suddenly, An Xin heard the sound of horseshoes coming from afar and frowned slightly, pulling his mother to one side. "Mother, there are few people here." The horseshoe sounds were chaotic and hurried, clearly in a rush. If they couldn't avoid them in time, it would be bad if they got hurt.
After a while, An Xin saw a group of people in the distance, riding horses quickly with the backs of their knives, led by two men who were driving side by side. One of them was riding a tall horse, wearing a black brocade robe, his black hair tied up high with a golden crown inlaid with gems, his face handsome, his eyebrows like ink paintings, his lips tightly pursed, and his age could not be guessed from his appearance. Only his amber-colored eyes were full of vicissitudes, as if he had experienced the fleeting prosperity of the world.
