Unexpected First Meeting

That night was the Spring Festival.

The capital of Xun Dynasty, Tan Xun started snowing from the eve of the Spring Festival.  But now, the sky is finally clear, so the release of sky lanterns will go as scheduled.

All the men in Nalan Residence went to Tan Xun city to release lanterns, whilst the unmarried young girls on the other hand weren’t allowed to go.

The reason for that is because, other than the Imperial Family, the Nalan Family is the most powerful clan in the Xun Dynasty.

They are not royal by blood, but Nalan Jing De, the Xiang Wang, accomplished a lot in the military fields and was therefore bestowed the title ‘Wang’.

Because of that, the Nalan clan became more prominent than the other families.

But that night, the pearl within Nalan Jing De’s palm, Nalan Xi Yan cannot bear to miss the hustle and bustle outside.  She conspired with maid Huan Bi Luo to cheat her nanny, and slipped out of the back gate while donning men’s clothing.

She deliberately put on an ugly devil mask to cover her face in case if she bumps with anyone from her family while walking along the noisy streets of Tan Xun City.

That will be one of her last joyful days in Xun Country.

The emperor of Xun Country, Xuan Yuan Yu already decreed her marriage to Ye Country’s emperor, Bai Li Nan.

There will be a selection for the inner palace soon, she will have to join them, though it was only for show.  Her real marriage has been pre-determined from the start.  The decree for her betrothal to Bai Li Nan will be formally announced that day.

Nalan Jing De has no objection when it comes to the decree, in fact, he was happy.

Right now, there are three countries under the sky: Xun Country, Ye Country and Zhen Country.

Xun Country and Ye Country has always have good relations with each other, especially now, between their two emperors.  Zhen Country is another case.  The ruler, Yin Chi Chang has a hostile personality and has no contact with any of the two countries at all.

Now, with their future marriage, the relationship between Xun and Ye will definitely get even closer.  Political marriage like this is not the same with love marriage, the effect it will bring will be more impactful.

Unfortunately for Nalan Xi Yan, the number of days in her homeland is getting shorter.

She has never had any plan about what kind of men she wants to marry, because she knew, just like her older cousins, she will be made to enter the palace.  If she fails, she will be made to marry men from the other noble clans.

This is the fate of girls from noble families and she is no exception.

So, what she should plan is how to fully enjoy her life before the time comes.

She is so excited to explore the crowded street, just she did not know how and when she lost Bi Luo.

Walking around by herself like this, she is not afraid at all, in fact she went straight to where the lanterns are.  She also sees a dragon dance performance.  The dragon is chasing a small fireball, the dance is so joyful, there are people cheering here and there.

She push people around and try to get to the front line.  Because of her petite built, it wasn’t a hard feat for her.  After she managed to get to the frontmost line, she gets a front-seat view of the dragon dance in front.  She cry in joy.

The moment she make that sound, everything suddenly change.  The dragon that chase the fireball suddenly explodes, like fireworks.

Some of the people in the crowd gets burned by the sparks and the previously festive streets suddenly turns into a frenzy.

A small part of Xi Yan’s robe catches on fire.  She uses her sleeves to distinguish the sparks.

At the roadside, there are ice from the snow yesterday.

Ice, very slippery.

A lot of people who ran away from the blast ended up slipping on ice. Driven by their instincts to flight, some of the crowds even stomp on fallen people in order to run away.

There are bloodcurdling screams from all around her, when she heard them, she froze in her place.  But not long after that, she regains her composure.

Everyone is running in only one direction, that was obviously not a very good idea.  Even though she might be able to walk on the slippery ice, there’s no guarantee she’ll survive the pushing and shoving.

She quickly turns around and run to the opposite direction.

As she do that, she realizes that the dancing dragon team members are now holding glistening swords in their hands and are battling it out in the nearby Taiyuan Building.

Taiyuan Building, a place where the rich and nobles gathers to view lanterns on the Spring Festival.  The place with the most beautiful view and with the tightest security.

Now, that place looks like hell.