91 A Fairy Tale Named The Little Prince (2/2)
This was what people would call a conversation with no heads or tails. Sangsang wanted to say something, while Ning Que did not. Therefore, as the former blurted out a sentence with no head or tail, the latter looked up the sky to say that rain would be falling.
”Young master, why don't you like her?” Sangsang stopped and looked up at him.
Ning Que thought that it was necessary to let the little handmaiden know his honest thoughts. He hesitated for a moment and said, ”I don't think she's a good person in the traditional sense, though she is really good to you.”
Sangsang did not know why he was being so stubborn on this issue, and she asked seriously, ”If Her Highness isn't a nice person, then why did she go to the grassland and why is she so good to Xiaoman?”
Ning Que looked at her quietly and suddenly said, ”If she is a good person, then why did she go to the grassland and why is she so good to Xiaoman? I don't think all the stepmothers in the world are bad people, but I have also never seen a stepmother who regards Xiaoman's life to be more important than her own.”
Asking the same question, Sangsang seemed to prove that Her Highness was a good person, while Ning Que used it to prove the opposite. She was wondering what he wanted to say, looking at him in confusion.
At the moment, a light rain began to drift from the sky over the city of Chang'an in the late spring. Ning Que took the big black umbrella from her back and opened it. Continuing moving forward, he then said, ”When things are abnormal, they're often evil. His Highness' stepmother is so young, is her maternal nature suddenly flourishing? It seems that it's too soon for that. I think this is empathy. She was transferring her love for Chanyu to the boy... In this case, how sorry she feels for Chanyu, who rests in the grassland.
”Only military forces in borders like ours know what a great master Chanyu was. So, how was such a superior man murdered and usurped unexpectedly by his idiot younger brother?”
”Young master, what on earth do you want to say?”
”What I want to say is that Her Highness will feel regret all of her life because Chanyu was the one who really loved her, the only one who dared to love her sincerely.”
”I don't understand.”
”Nevermind.”
Sangsang kept silent for a long time, and suddenly spoke, ”Do you think the princess is the one who killed Chanyu?”
”It seems that your general foolishness in life is an excuse for laziness,” Ning Que answered indirectly.
Sangsang lowered her head, walking under the black umbrella with her little fist slightly clenching, and asked, ”What's the evidence?”
”There are lots of things in this world that don't need evidence.”
Ning Que watched the light drizzle outside the umbrella, and said, ”She could not only resolve the attacks from some villains in the Empire but also gain the mercy from His Majesty by showing weakness in the battle with Her Majesty. What's more, she could win the respect of the citizens of the Tang Empire and even develop her own strengths in the grassland. Yet, it was impossible for her to stay in the grassland forever, since His Majesty is getting older and the person succeeding the throne needs to be confirmed as soon as possible. There's only one way to come back as a woman deeply loved by Chanyu.”
Sangsang whispered, lowering her head, ”But Her Highness was only 12 or 13 years old when she decided to leave for the grassland.”
”I'd already begun to kill people in the Horse Gang at the age of 12 or 13. A person's ability is not necessarily proportional to his age.” Ning Que held the big black umbrella and gradually sped up, and then said, shaking his head, ”What I said is only a reason why Her Highness might do that and get benefits. But in my opinion, the best proof of the matter is the words that I said earlier.
”We all know how great Chanyu was, though he died young. Such a great man is hard to kill... unless the murderer is the one whom he trusted the most.”
Sangsang bowed her head with her lips curled, and then softly muttered, ”Anyway, this is just your guess, young master.”
”I, too, wish that the speculation is wrong and that this world is full of fairy tales in which the prince and the princess finally live happily ever after. But you see... the prince in the grassland died, and the princess came back home,” replied Ning Que.
Sangsang looked up and a drop of rain fell off from her dark black cheeks. She looked at him angrily and asked, ”Young master, why is the world so dark in your eyes?”
Ning Que stopped and watched her wordlessly. A good while later he said in a cold voice, ”Because the world that I've seen is so dark since the time that I survived and picked you up from the dead bodies by the roadside.”
With these words, he also felt that he was not on his best behavior. He walked angrily toward the street. He was wondering if the shadow cast on his spirit by the old library of the Academy or the impending murder had made the rain outside the big black umbrella seem not that fresh, but a bit dull.
Sangsang stood in the rain watching his back, and suddenly hurried to catch up to him with the big black umbrella. She then reached her hand to grab his sleeve hanging down from his right hand, and never let it go.
Under the big black umbrella, a conversation was heard between the master and the maid from time to time.
”I thought you might call Her Highness an idiot.”
”You should feel all kinds of things except for emotion, since in the end, it will hurt others and yourself. In this case, she really is an idiot.”
”Then why didn't you curse her like that before?”
”In the future, I will use these curse words even less, because one who lets idiots work them up emotionally... is really a poor man.”