Great Chinese Beauty

  Liu Danru stood amidst the crowd, surrounded by unfamiliar attire and faces. The unfamiliar smiles and languages engulfed her like a tidal wave, leaving her feeling isolated and abandoned in the midst of it all. She felt an icy chill to her bones, making her want to scream and cling to her elbows for warmth, yet she had to maintain the dignified demeanor of a Han princess, swallowing her sorrow and fear whole. With the support of her maid's hand, she followed the Xiongnu servant into the yurt.

  "The lady is resting here, and when the wedding ceremony begins, someone will naturally come to take you there." The slender but robust boy outside the tent bowed again, turned around and retreated. Three or four Xiongnu women wearing left-buttoned round-neck animal skin cloaks came out, placed their hands together in front of their chest, bowed their heads in a Hu ritual, then stood up straight, stealing glances to size her up, with a hint of respect, curiosity, indifference, and disdain in their eyes.

  A round-faced, elderly woman stepped forward and said something in the Xiongnu language, her voice sharp and quick. Liu Danru couldn't understand what she meant, so she cast a pleading glance at the two maidservants standing beside her, Luolu and Zhuzhu. However, these two maidservants, who had been brought from the Han court, were even younger than Liu Danru and looked equally helpless and terrified.

  Lolo reluctantly took a step forward and said loudly in Chinese, "What are you talking about? My princess can't understand."

  The Huns women looked at each other and smiled, the round-faced woman who was in charge raised her hand to stop them, making a gesture for Liu Danru to enter the tent.

  The yurt's dome was propped up with a wooden frame, high at the top and low at the bottom, but it didn't feel cramped. Inside the yurt, there were all sorts of beds, chairs, and other furniture, covered with fine animal hides. In one corner of the yurt, there was a clay stove, and on the roof, there was a skylight. On the table, there were even some roasted mutton and cheese, and it didn't seem like they were being particularly lazy. However, Liu Dan had lived among the Han people for so long that she suddenly found herself unable to get used to these animal hides and furs, and her spirits sank. She turned around and waved her hand, telling the Xiongnu maidservants to leave. The round-faced Xiongnu maid smiled slightly and didn't find it difficult to comply with Liu's request, leading the other Xiongnu women out of the yurt.

  The curtains fell, Luo Luo and Zhu Zhu turned around, and only then dared to speak up, pitifully asking, "Princess, do we really have to live here for the rest of our lives until old age?"

  Liu Danru leaned back in her bear skin chair, tears welling up in her eyes as she smiled and said, "Is there any other choice?" Then, looking at the two children in front of her who were only thirteen or fourteen years old, she pitied them, saying, "I am a princess who has been married off to secure an alliance, so be it. But you two are to be pitied, you will never be able to return to the Great Han again for the rest of your lives."

  Zhu Zhu and Luo Luo shed tears opposite each other, saying, "The princess is pitiful, we will accompany the princess together."

  Liu Dan stepped up and walked to the edge of the yurt, just a curtain away. Outside, the Xiongnu people were laughing and drinking hot wine, racing horses, wrestling, and celebrating their festival, forming a warm and lively world of their own. Inside the yurt, however, there were three Han women sitting opposite each other with tears in their eyes. They had been abandoned by their hometown and could not integrate into their new home, sympathizing with each other's misfortune, and wondering how they would spend the long and uncertain future ahead.

  Liu Dan stroked the birch wood fence in front of her, saying to herself, "Now you're all alone, you need to think carefully about what to do next." Just as she was lost in thought, she suddenly heard a bright and cheerful child's voice outside the yurt: "Is this the Han princess's felt tent?" The tone was crisp and clear, with a distinctly Han accent.

  A girl of eight or nine years old, wearing a fur-lined hat and wrapped in a white fox fur coat from head to toe, pushed open the curtain and came in. She had a golden belt around her waist and wore deerskin boots on her feet, making crisp and refreshing sounds as she stepped on the ground. A pair of bright eyes, like the reflection of a deep lake, looked over with a hint of curiosity and scrutiny, but without any malice. The atmosphere inside the tent was cold and stern just now, but this girl's appearance seemed to bring in the radiant spring light.

  Liu Danru stood up at the sound of her voice, she rarely saw a child who was already stunningly beautiful before they had fully grown up, and the girl in front of her was still young, could speak Chinese, and was the first person to show kindness to her since entering Xiongnu, unconsciously giving birth to good feelings.

  "My name is Timiruna." The girl smiled and introduced herself, "I am the ninth daughter of Zu Gulei Wang Sun Mouhan, my brother is a big shot Gu, you can call me A Ti."

  "Ah Ti," Liu Dan Ru murmured vaguely, following her meaning, then thought for a moment and said, "I am Liu Dan Ru, I..."

  "I know you're here to marry the Han family's Xianping Princess." Timirouna said, cutting off her words, seeing her innocent expression, she walked around her chair in a circle and leaned in close, "Princess, this won't do. In Modun Khan's tent, there are also Zuo'e and two other favored concubines, if you appear too soft, they will surely suppress you to death."

  Liu Dan sneered, "Even if I'm strong-willed, can I still have a good life?"

  Thimira sat silently, finally sitting cross-legged beside her - the armchair was big enough, and the two girls sank deep into it, still looking spacious and comfortable. "That's a better day."

  Liu Danru smiled slightly, took her hand, and felt a slight warmth in his heart. "Thank you for coming over to talk to me. Those Xiongnu women in the tent don't speak Chinese, I'm alone here, feeling quite desolate."

  Temur looked at her for a moment and finally said, "We Xiongnu people, more or less, all know some Chinese, although we may not speak it very standardly."

  Liu Dan's heart sank, if the situation was indeed like this, then it wasn't that there were noble Xiongnu people who had instructed their slaves to make things difficult for her, but rather that the Xiongnu people in general had a strong aversion to her and refused to accept a foreign princess. In either case, it would be extremely disadvantageous to herself.

  "Ah-Tee," Liu Dan-ru asked her, "why are you willing to come visit me?" If all the Xiongnu people didn't welcome herself, why was this girl named Ah-Tee willing to openly come see her.

  Timirouna jumped down from the chair and watched as her Han Dynasty items were arranged. The formal dowry chests would not arrive until after the ceremony, but Liu Danru had brought some personal items that Zhuzhuluo was now arranging.

  "Are you reading 'Zuo Zhuan'?" Timiriona picked up her bamboo slips from beside her pillow and raised an eyebrow to ask.

  Liu Dan was greatly surprised, although Temira had just told herself that most Xiongnu people could speak some Chinese, but the guards and child servants she met after entering this dragon city all spoke with a strange Xiongnu accent in their Chinese, while this nine-year-old Xiongnu noble girl did not. Her Chinese accent was extremely authentic, as if she were a native of Chang'an, the capital of Han.

  It should be known that even within the Great Han's borders, not every noblewoman was literate.

  "Shh," Timiria made a silencing gesture, mischievously smiling, "this is my secret." Her eyes sparkled like the morning star in the night sky of the prairie, "not even my brother knows I know Chinese characters, now that you know, you have to keep it for me."

  She nodded silently.

  "There's no particular reason, I just felt like coming over." Timiroona casually tossed the bamboo slip back onto the couch and jumped up to sit cross-legged on it. "I'm not a person of the royal court, so the words of the Cui family have no restrictive effect on me. I wanted to see what the Han family princess looks like. You're quite pretty, Princess."

  Liu Danru's face suddenly turned slightly red.

  It was unclear whether Mo Dun Yu liked this gentle and weak Han woman's demeanor, but Timirora let out a soft sigh. Although she could convey her kindness to the greatest extent, it couldn't help this poor woman in the slightest.

  She poured a bowl of milk tea, then pulled out a small knife to cut off a piece of roasted meat and pushed it in front of Liu Dan Yu, smiling and saying, "The princess has traveled such a long way, must be hungry. Why not try some Xiongnu food?"

  Liu Danru nodded, took a sip of the milk tea, and found it too greasy. She didn't frown, but forced herself to put it down, looking at the coarse roasted meat, she also lost her appetite. She asked Tiamat, "Tia, do you know what kind of person the Khan is?"

  She knew that the Han family and Xiongnu were incompatible, and if she wanted to live a smooth and comfortable life on the Xiongnu grasslands, the only possibility was to gain Modu's favor. Although it was sad, she had no choice but to ask.

  "What about Modu Chanyu?" Timiriona furrowed her brow, hesitantly opening her mouth. "I also only came out with my father and brother this year to see the big scene, and I haven't seen the Chanyu many times either. I think he should be a hero. He's brave, wise, decisive, but also ruthless. As for anything else, I wouldn't know more."

  Liu Danru felt a slight sense of disappointment and was about to ask again, when suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps outside the tent, followed by the extremely respectful bowing voice of the Xiongnu female servant. The expression on Temür's face changed slightly in an instant. Just as Liu Danru was about to ask what had happened, the windscreen of the yurt was lifted once more, and a bold and unrestrained voice with a hint of a Han accent rang out, "If the Khan wants to know my business, why doesn't he come and ask me himself?"

  Pink tickets are becoming increasingly scarce, and there is a sense of melancholy in Jiangxin!