Ye An peered over to look at the message. "What is this? An invasion?" She looked at Xi Chen in alarm.
Xi Chen's brows furrowed at the news. The last invasion was still fresh in his memory. He was merely a boy then and was involuntarily forced into the thick of things.
10 years ago, Winter
A young boy was sitting by the window sill, his brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to paint the scene outside on a piece of rough yellowed paper. Snow had been falling heavily since dawn, the barren pine trees outside the downtrodden hut were piled with heavy snow. Looking at the cloudy sky, it seemed as though a snowstorm would be rolling in soon.
The young boy's features were somewhere in between a boy's and a man's. His cheeks had not fully grown out of their softness but his jaw was already sharpening. Separate animal furs were stitched together into a coat and piled on top of his small frame to keep him warm.
From the other side of the small room, an elderly man spoke to the young boy in his gravelly voice. "Xi Chen, don't sit by the window. You'll get a cold. Close the shutters and come help me keep this fire lit."
Young Xi Chen obediently latched the window shut before hopping off the stool as he answered, "Alright, grandpa."
Both the elderly man and the young boy fanned the fire with all their might to keep it crackling.
"Don't tell your grandma I asked you to do this with me or she'll skin me alive." The elderly man said to the young boy mischievously.
"Alright, grandpa. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Young Xi Chen replied, mirroring the elderly man's playfulness.
The door to the hut opened suddenly to an elderly woman. Flakes of pristine snow had settled on the headscarf covering her equally white hair. She entered the room as she carried a basket filled with sweet potatoes. "Gosh, the snow is everywhere! Are you done lighting up the fire?" She asked while dusting snow off her clothes. "Mr. Hua! I asked you to light the fire! Why are you making Xi Chen do all the work?" The elderly woman scolded her husband once she noticed what they were doing.
The elderly man looked at his wife sheepishly and quickly went to his wife to help her dust off the snow on her headscarf in a clumsy bid to make amends as young Xi Chen candidly answered, "A man must work for his food, grandma."
The young boy's guileless retort made the elderly couple laugh.
"Yes, yes. Our Xi Chen is absolutely right." The elderly woman answered as she ruffled the boy's hair fondly. The elderly man gave the boy a wink and a thumbs-up behind his wife's back.
"Here. Let's have some roasted sweet potatoes for lunch today. Lao Wang gave me his best sweet potatoes." The elderly woman spoke while she popped the sweet potatoes straight into the fire.
"Oh, and I saw a few soldiers from the border having a meal at the tavern beside Lao Wang's cart. Such fine men." The elderly woman sighed.
YOU ARE READING
THE NIGHT EMPEROR: 夜安王 【The Night Emperor Book 1】| ✔️
Historical Fiction☑ COMPLETED "There are enough bad things in life, hold on to whatever it is that gives you joy." For the past 22 years, the Empress Mother has held onto the Dragon Throne that was rightfully Ye An's. Now, Ye An has finally ascended to the throne. Bu...
