The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

The Moon-Weaving Pavilion outside the Forgotten Snow City was the first one built by Tangxi Snow.

She was only thirteen years old at the time, carrying a medicine box and following behind the old medicine god, walking on the frozen soil of Yanlan Snow Continent.

The cold poison that struck the north came suddenly and fiercely, as if the heavens had suddenly turned their backs and pressed the entire snowy continent into an ice cave.

The wind and snow blocked the roads, froze and cracked the houses, and tore apart countless once-whole homes.

She saved many people, and the senior brothers and sisters from Shenyao Valley all rushed over.

Everyone worked day and night to brew medicine, administer acupuncture, and pull those bodies, which had been afflicted by the cold poison, back from the brink of death.

But Xuezhou is too big, and the cold poison spreads too quickly.

When they arrived, some villages and towns were already as quiet as empty graves.

The dead were hastily buried in the frozen earth, and the living knelt before the graves, unable to even utter a sound.

Before the tears could fall, they had already frozen into ice.

Those parents left the last bite of food for their children, and then they closed their eyes and never opened them again.

The child survived.

But then?

She remembers those pairs of eyes.

Large and empty, it gazes at the swirling snow, as if waiting for someone to walk back from the snowstorm.

Waiting for Father, waiting for Mother, waiting for someone who will never come back.

The light in those eyes dimmed little by little, colder than the wind in Xuezhou.

"Sister Zhi—"

A little girl, so thin she was practically skin and bones, tugged at her clothes, her fingers red with cold.

"Thank you for saving us."

A group of children were standing behind her.

The older one was no more than ten years old, and the younger one was still in my arms, wrapped in an old cotton robe that I don’t know which adult had taken off.

They huddled together like a litter of abandoned little animals in the snow, shivering, yet still trying to keep the smallest ones in the center.

"Sister Zhi, we have no home anymore."

The one speaking was the oldest boy.

His voice was hoarse, and his eyes were red, but he held back his tears.

He held a crying baby in his arms. The baby's face was chapped from the wind, its lips were purple, and it barely had the strength to cry anymore.

Another little girl looked up, her voice weak.

"Are we... destined to never grow up?"

Those words were like a needle, piercing Tang Xixue's heart.

She squatted down.

The wind from Xuezhou rushed into her collar, chilling her to the bone, but she didn't care.

She reached out and grasped her small, frozen hand, cupping it in her palm and warming it little by little.

"Who says you can't grow up?"

Her eyes were terribly red, but her voice was reassuringly calm.

"Sister Zhi said—you will all grow up."

She stood up, took the little girl into her arms, and then reached out to take the smallest baby from the boy's arms.

The baby's little hands were ice cold, and when the warmth of her neck was touched, her fingers instinctively curled up.

The weather in Selangor is truly cold, the kind of cold that can devour you.

All it takes is one night, a little stronger wind, and a little denser snow.

These children will fall asleep quietly, just like the adults, and never wake up again.

At that time, all the countries in Yanlan Xuezhou were severely weakened.

The chilling poison swept across the entire snowy continent and also affected all the countries.

The imperial court was busy with disaster relief, epidemic prevention, and stabilizing public sentiment, and had no time to care about these children who had lost their parents.

They were the debris left behind after the disaster, swept into a corner, and no one bothered to look at them.

"When everyone is together, that's home."

Tang Xixue held the baby, looking at the little faces that were red from the wind and snow.

The wind carried her voice far and wide, so that everyone could hear it.

From now on, you will all be brothers and sisters.

She found a valley outside the city.

Wangyue Valley has a stream, trees, and a wide, open slope where you can see the moon.

The senior disciples from Shenyao Valley took care of all the official procedures for her—land deeds, household registration, official documents—and handled them all perfectly.

She took out all the money she had on her and built the first Weaving Moon Pavilion.

Blue bricks and gray tiles, wooden doors and paper windows.

The yard wasn't big, but it was big enough to accommodate all the children.

"Look... now, we have a home."

She planted a red camellia tree in the yard that was not afraid of wind and snow. When the wind and snow came, the tree was still as bright as a red flame.

She hung a lantern on the lintel.

She said, "The lights must be on whether I'm there or not, so the children won't be afraid when they wake up at night."

She invested all her medical writings and the money she earned from practicing medicine into the Zhiyue Pavilion.

"Sister Zhi, with you here, we have nothing to fear."

"Sister Zhi is warmer than the lamp in front of the courtyard."

"Sister Zhi, you must come back!"

"Sister, you have to come and see what we'll look like when we grow up."

"No matter how long it takes, we'll wait for Sister Zhi!"

The old medicine god was still alive at that time.

The old man was so old that his hair and beard were all white, and his back was hunched over.

He stood at the mouth of the valley, leaning on the medicine hoe that had been with him for most of his life, watching her busy with the children from afar.

She distributed clothes, bedding, and warmed medicine to the children.

She gathered the youngest children around her and touched their foreheads one by one to see if they had a fever.

She picked up the crying child and gently soothed him.

She coaxed and soothed the child until he fell asleep on her shoulder.

The old medicine god looked at it for a long time.

The wind blew from the valley, causing his white beard to flutter slightly.

"The lights will go out, but the bright moon will always hang high, illuminating the night."

His smile was hidden behind a face full of wrinkles, like an old piece of jade polished smooth and warm by the passage of time.

The lights that were gradually lighting up in the valley were reflected in his cloudy eyes, making them appear exceptionally bright.

"With Zhizhi around, I can say that I have a successor."

He taught many apprentices and saved many lives, but what he was most proud of was not his youngest apprentice's talent or her medical skills.

That winter, she huddled a group of children who were about to freeze to death in her arms and said to them, "Home is where we are together."

His youngest apprentice is his greatest pride in life.

After that, the old medicine god took Tang Xixue to many places.

Wherever she went, she would build another Moon Weaving Pavilion.

Jade Capital, Snowfall City, Floating City... that lamp shines throughout the Nine Provinces.

She is the lamp, and she is the bright moon.

The lantern festival may end, but as long as those children remember that a bright moon once shone into their darkness.

They will light the next lamp themselves.

She built the Weaving Moon Pavilion when she was thirteen years old, and seven years have passed in the blink of an eye.

But when she opened the door, there were no more children's voices in her ears. She went inside and saw that everyone was fast asleep.

On the back of their hands, a striking red flower bloomed, much like the red camellia in the courtyard.

Those once young faces have now grown up.

The children have all grown up, just as she said.

But he couldn't open his eyes and even look at her.

Suddenly, she noticed someone behind her and immediately turned around.

"Who goes there? Come out!"