this king; that king

One winter day when I was 12 years old, the teacher walked into the classroom wearing a thick fur coat, raised his clenched hands in front of his mustache mouth, and announced with a clear throat: "We are going to hold a singing competition. Participate?"

Jin looked at Yan and Wan, and they also turned their heads and smiled at him.Yan and Wan had already decided to go together, so they raised their hands.

"Miss Yan and Miss Wan—really?" The teacher nodded with a smile, and wrote down their names.

"Teacher, I want Jin to go with me." Yan stood up and said.

Wan who was at the side was startled, hurriedly tugged on Yan's sleeve, and said in a low voice, "Be careful!"

But Yan's eyes were very serious. She supported the table with both hands, and one side of her mouth was slightly raised, and she didn't feel like shrinking back at all.Wan had to look at Jin, and Jin was also frightened. He did sing a few lines with them on a whim before, and they also said they would take him with them, but that was just a joke.I would like to find that the teacher looked at me with fierce eyes that seemed to eat me up.

"Of course I'm not going..." Jin said timidly.

"Teacher, I think Jin sings well, it's a good idea to bring him along." Yan still didn't sit down.

Seeing the awkward situation, Wan also stood up: "Teacher, I want to take him with me too!"

In the end, the teacher had no choice but to get angry. On the surface, he agreed, but secretly crossed out Jin's name.

But Jin didn't know it at all, he thought he could finally take that step, he was so excited that he took a shower every day and practiced walking, even the light bulb was about to be heard.

After preparing everything, Jin followed Yan Hewan to the backstage. He saw the students in the auditorium and the judges below, sweating profusely due to nervousness, and their makeup was beginning to fade.Wan said to him: "Oh, you really have nothing to be afraid of! Anyway, the lights on the stage are so bright, you can't see them."

Jin could only try to convince himself that this was the case, but his legs kept shaking.

The host began to announce the curtain amid the applause: "Next is the duet of Yan and Wan. Please welcome them with enthusiasm and appreciation!"

"What?" Yan reacted, and Wan looked at each other in blank dismay.Hearing this, Jin even stepped back again and again, feeling very bored in his heart, pinching the corner of his clothes with his fingers, lowered his head and said, "You guys go, I knew that nothing good would happen."

But Wan rushed him to the stage, and heard the people in the audience start whispering, they seemed to be blaming themselves as an intruder who should not have appeared.

I know that I am almost finished, and the tears keep rolling.

After finishing singing in full force, it was Wan's turn, which was softer and more cheerful. After that, it was Jin's part. Jin took a deep breath, and tremblingly began to sing into the air duct.

That was the first time he heard his own voice so clearly, loud and pure, not as unpleasant as imagined.But when he thought of his own face, he couldn't stop trembling.

Section after section, Jin sang more and more smoothly, he caught sight of Wan blinking at him, and Yan secretly wrote the word "perfect" on his back.

The final result was obviously very good. When the last note fell, the audience burst into thunderous applause.

They got a first prize certificate that belonged to them, and it was the first time that they won the honor with their own ability, thinking: people may no longer care about his appearance because of his character and ability.

But the old king was very unhappy about this matter. He pinched his hair with a stern face, frowned and refused to speak, but sent someone directly to Jin's room to take all his paintings out and burn them. Lost.

No matter how indiscriminately snatching the light bulbs, how sharply and hoarsely Jin knelt on the ground and scratched his face with his nails and cried, no one stopped to leave him even a little bit of leftovers.

He watched helplessly as sheets of paper were engulfed in flames, like red lotuses burning and blooming, and the paint on them gave off sparks of different colors when burning.

"Why are you in the limelight?" the old king asked him, "Do you know how much you are worth?"

"I didn't..." Jin lowered her head, fiddling with the corner of her clothes with her fingers.

"Don't make noise!" the old king roared, then raised his eyebrows coldly, "It's okay to tell you, I've already told the Northern Prince that you will go to the Northern Kingdom to get married on your 17th birthday."

Jin was shocked and raised his head, his eyes filled with painful tears.

"Don't cry, it's not good-looking, and it's outrageous." The old king shook his sleeves and left without saying anything else.

"Your Highness, you can cry if you want," the moment the old king disappeared by the door, Light Bulb immediately stepped forward and hugged Jin in his arms, "Princes can cry too!"

Unexpectedly, Jin did not hug the light bulb back as before, but stared blankly for a long time with her eyes open before slowly raising her arms, gently scraping away the tears with the folds of her clothes: "Why are you crying? It's the prince, he's my father, and he's right in everything he says."

Bulb took a deep breath, he felt that Jin gently opened his hand, and turned back into the bathroom with a gloomy face: "I can bear it, I'll take a shower first."

From then on, Jin went to class to play and talk and listen to half-knowledge, and his homework was just to write something casually, and he often lost his mind. Yan Hewan could see that there was something different in him, but no one could tell what had changed. up.

But Bulb discovered that since then, Jin has been more meticulous about his paintings, and he cannot allow any clerical errors.

In a blink of an eye, Jin was already 15 years old, and she had completely transformed into a young man with a stable personality, a cold appearance to outsiders, but a turbulent heart.

I would like to get married and practice etiquette in retreat in the castle.Knowing that he was bored, Yan Hewan asked Jin to go out to play secretly. With the help of the light bulb, Jin sneaked out of Yan's mansion one morning to meet the two.

Because of the effect of the potion, Jin, who had already started to gain weight from eating, excitedly ran to the agreed little tree by the market.

"Hey!" Jin greeted the two with a smile.

Yan had already cut her hair short, put her hands in the pockets of her trousers, and stood on one side slightly. The loose coat made her look domineering, while Wan kept her hair longer and paired it with washed jeans. Dressed up, but still rich in expression.

"Hey." Wan's tone was calmer, but still happy, with a bright smile.Yan, on the other hand, completely exposed his heartless side, smiling energetically and nodding his head in return.

"Want to go shopping?" Jin asked.

"Of course." Yan took the lead.

The market is crowded with people, colorful labels and banners are everywhere, there are women selling handmade clothes, fishermen selling salted fish and dried vegetables, strong men and women selling meat, and performing acrobatics A young beggar with ragged clothes and disheveled long hair, with dexterous hands throwing burning glass bottles up and down, with a chocolate bar in his mouth: "Passing gentlemen and ladies, just want a full meal. --yeah!"

Jin stepped forward and nodded politely at the sideshow beggar, then reached out and gave him two silver coins.

"The god of heaven and earth bless you, young master!" The young man put away the fire bottle, took the silver coin, and mysteriously took out an ordinary copper plate from his waist, and shook it twice in front of Jin's wide-open eyes. With a clap of both hands, the copper plate suddenly turned into a large bunch of blue enchantresses, the fresh and tender petals were stained with water droplets, and the deep or shallow layers of blue were as clean as the deep ocean connecting the earth and the sky.

I stretched out my arms and hugged the bouquet, smiled at the young man, took two steps back, and turned my head again: "Thank you! This is the money for the bouquet!" Then he reached out and took out a bouquet from his pocket. The copper plate was thrown back.

The young man took the copper coin and glanced at Jin indifferently.

"Buy and sell freely without debt!" Jin waved at him, turned his head and left with Yan Wan and a smile.

"Oh, don't you like him!" Wan joked with a smile.

"That's right, it's the first time I saw you handing out money so neatly, and you used to speak in a low voice." Yan patted Jin on the shoulder handsomely, exchanged glances with Wan, and added.

"Because the clerk in the store won't send me flowers!" Jin retorted, his face showing nothing different from usual, "Would you like to go to the hanging chain stand over there? I like the pebble pendants there so much Eh!"

"Let's go!" Wan walked forward carelessly.

"Okay." Yan also followed.

A few days later, I went on a tour with my second brother in Weifu, and went to the market that day again.

"Father is also true. He sent you out in disguise all day long to report on the current situation, and he blamed you even when he heard harsh words. I didn't see him teasing big brother like this." Jin has always been a little dissatisfied with the old king.

"You can't say that. Of course, the task entrusted to me by my father must be done well, and I have never gone shopping with you!" The second prince carefully hid the emergency armband representing the prince's identity in his pocket, and said lightly to Jin Laughing, "Say, what do you want, the second brother will buy it for you at public expense."

"Forget it... It's always bad to spend money." Jin has always been afraid to buy things casually, even the pebble pendant he likes, he just looked at it and decisively gave it up.

"You're afraid of spending money because you haven't eaten or drank since you were a child. Isn't money just for spending?" The second prince walked directly to the cotton candy stand beside him and told the stall owners two.

"One, one!" Jin quickly leaned forward and corrected with a frown.

Seeing this, the second prince said again: "If you don't eat it, then I won't eat it either. Let's go."

"Hey don't!" Seeing the disappointment in the eyes of the second prince, "Uncle, I want two."

The second prince smiled gently at Jin, touched Jin's head and praised: "This is a good start, if you can do such small things without worrying so much about others, and follow your own inner needs Better."

"I don't have any needs..." Jin took two marshmallows with a wry smile, and handed one to the second prince. The two turned their heads and went into the market. You're going to get married in a year and a half, do you just want to stay with me for a while? Although Yan Hewan didn't say anything, it's probably the same..."

The second prince is silent, Jin is always very sensitive, although he is easy to be sentimental, but sometimes he is very accurate in guessing other people's thoughts.

"It's fine to just say no, I also want to stay with my second brother for a while, after all..." Jin silently lowered her head, "Thousands of miles away, since I'm married and my husband doesn't allow me, I can't see you."

The second prince bit the marshmallow one bite at a time, and turned his head away.

"If you make it clear, you can let go and play!" Jin suddenly pulled up the somewhat depressed second prince, and rushed towards the pendant stall with big strides.Jin opened his mouth and took a big mouthful of marshmallow, and asked with sticky candy in his mouth, "Boss, where is the pebble pendant?"

"Pebbles?" The boss was a little puzzled.

"That's right! That's the one—" Jin licked off the remaining cotton candy, and gestured with both hands while holding a stick.

"Ah! That? It was bought by a young man just now! It was the one who was doing acrobatics there before." The boss replied.

"Do you like this pendant?" A voice suddenly sounded from behind.

"You are... the juggler!" Looking back, the beggar who was juggling yesterday was holding the pendant in his hand, the silver ornaments on it shone little by little, but the pebbles inside turned into beautiful emeralds.

The beggar looked puzzled, and explained: "I bought an ordinary pendant, changed it with earth magic and sold it, but because it is artificial, I can only earn a small extra money."

"Can you sell this to me?" Jin asked.

"Forget it, just send it to you!" The young man handed over the pendant and asked as if remembering something, "I can help you engrave your name on it. What's your name?"

"Jin." Saying his name always makes Jin feel goosebumps all over his body.

"So it's a descendant of a nobleman, it's really rare!" The young man smiled and closed his eyes to cast a spell. After a while, a faintly visible word appeared on the emerald, reflecting soft light under the sun.

"Make friends, my name is Jason, Jason Barnia." When the young man put the pendant into Jin's palm, he grabbed Jin's hand by the way.

Jin happily shook hands with him, thinking how great it is to be able to make friends, the second prince who smelled an alpha smell seemed a little unhappy, and reminded: "It's time to go, there are still things to do."

"Ah, good." Jin agreed, "Jason, please leave a contact information!"

Jason put his hands in his trouser pockets: "I'm going to try my luck on a voyage, maybe I can get some money back! So I won't be back until about a month later, I will write to you when the time comes, tell me the address !"

"This..." Jin looked up at the second prince, a little at a loss.

"Send it to the palace. We will do things in the palace, and we will include food and lodging." The second prince saw Jin's difficulty and answered for him.

"Okay, then I'm leaving!" Jason took two steps back and waved to the two, then turned and disappeared into the crowd with a smile.

The second prince heaved a sigh of relief, pulled Jin to the other side, and said with a smile: "Go inside first to see the prices, then to see the harvest, and finally come back from the pier and take a look at it by the way!"