The Rise of Xueyue

After buying more food than their hands could carry, the three finally found a place to sit and enjoy their food.

Everyone, except the servants and the heavily armed guards, sat around the benches in the public pavilion of the capital.

The servants had laid out handkerchiefs on the benches to ensure the clothes of their Young Masters and Young Miss wouldn't be dirtied.

It was quite a strange sight to see three young children surrounded by beautiful maidservants and scary, bulky, and muscular men dressed in armor.

Xueyue, Wenmin, and Chenyang had unknowingly garnered a lot of attention everywhere they went.

Although it wasn't a very rare sight to see children of nobility, since the capital had plenty of those, it was extremely rare to see kids so handsome and beautiful.

On top of it, they didn't hold an air of arrogance that seemed to belittle everyone they saw.

Instead, they eluded a heavy air of elegance and humbleness which had shocked almost every stall-owner that the three had stumbled across.

Wenmin and Chenyang didn't exchange words of gratitude, but Xueyue always remembered to thank the people.

And because Wenmin and Chenyang paid with gold coins, many of the stall-owners were excited for their patronage.

"Does the steamed bun taste good?" Wenmin watched his older brother take his second bite.

He had a very eager and puppy-like expression on his face after finishing his portion in three quick bites.

"It's not bad." Chenyang grumbled as he took another bite.

Xueyue noticed Wenmin's heavy stare and chuckled. "You can have mine if you want." She offered Wenmin her untouched bun.

His eyes immediately lit up in glee. "Really?!" He exclaimed, happily clapping his hands.

Xueyue laughed and nodded.

She passed her bun to him. "I've already had enough sweets to last me the entire day." She mused.

Wenmin squealed in delight and bear-hugged Xueyue, lightly swaying their body in the process. "You're the best, Yueyue!" He exclaimed.

Xueyue watched with a low grin on her face as Wenmin proceeded to stuff his face with the bun.

Her eyes trailed to Chenyang who seemed to be distracted observing their surroundings. She followed his line of sight and took in the beautiful scene of Shenzhou.

Xueyue could tell why Shenzhou was the capital city.

Shenzhou was extremely beautiful and there was an air of livelihood in it.

There was the pleasant smell of pastries lingering in the air and there was different types of sceneries.

If you wanted to experience nature, the forests was only a few miles away.

The forests had a few small waterfalls, and if you walked deeper into it, at the heart of the forest was an enormous waterfall where rainbows were frequently seen!

If you wanted to view Koi fishes, there was an enormous pond and small bridge that connected the capital to a river nearby.

The city was bustling with people ranging from foreign merchants to local sellers, servants on errands, ladies of middle-class families mingling with their friends, mothers buying grocery, and children happily running around.

To Xueyue who had never seen anything beyond the Bai Manor walls, this was a beautiful sight to witness.

She unknowingly wore a small smile on her face as she watched the people walk by and perform their daily tasks.

Although they were accompanied by many heavily armed and trained guards, Chenyang still scanned the crowd for any threats.

As his eyes trailed along the crowds, it eventually fell onto Xueyue.

The more he stared at her, the more he felt conflicted.

He had thought she was like most ladies of the wealthy society, spoiled and ungrateful. But today, as he watched her thank the merchants, he realized she was the opposite of that.

Xueyue eluded an air of grace and humbleness that he was grateful for.

Chenyang frowned when he realized how quiet she was.

She didn't speak unless she was spoken to, and her eyes would rarely make contact with people.

She always casted her eyes downwards, as if she was too scared to speak or look at someone.

He wondered about her pasts.

His mother and father didn't share anything about her, except for the fact that she would be joining their family as a distant cousin.

He was originally extremely reluctant, but the more he saw her, the more he wanted to know about her.

Just when Chenyang was too busy staring at the girl in front of him, Xueyue's eyes were also distracted. She saw a small child dressed in rags running through a busy crowd.

"Someone grab that brat!" A man yelled, pointing his meaty fingers at the child who was running with a loaf of bread in her sickly thin hands.

A burly man was chasing after the child whose tiny leg couldn't get her very far.

Xueyue got to her feet when the child tripped over the pavement and fell onto the rough floor.

The bread fell onto the floor and a person accidentally stepped on it. Despite the fact that the bread was dirty, the child still grabbed for it.

"Hey! Where are you going-" Chenyang doesn't finish his sentence when Xueyue ran past him, the maidservants, and then the guards.

The scene of child thieves wasn't uncommon in the wealthy capital. But to Xueyue who had never ventured outside of her house and experienced the cruelty of the real world, she naively ran towards the small child.

Xueyue experienced what it felt like to get beat. She understood the brutal pain and the sensation of seeing your life flash before your eyes.

She could see the child was obviously younger than her, and for some reason, she saw the slight similarity in the child.

They were both helpless when someone raised a hand to them.

The child cried out in pain when the man grabbed the child by her hair and yanked it up.

When the first smack echoed throughout the crowds, no one stepped forward.

No one bothered to help the child, except another child herself.

Xueyue was running faster than her legs could carry her and by the time she got there, the man was beginning to smack the child again.

Xueyue's breathless voice cut through the rough tension, "That's enough!"