4518 The Other Side 487
“When the eleventh sorceress had just blessed her, the thirteenth sorceress, the one who had not been invited, came in. She was furious that she had not been invited. She wanted to take revenge and cast a vicious spell. So when she came in, she cried out, ‘The king’s daughter will be wounded by a spindle when she’s 15 and eventually she’ll die.'”
…
Jing Yang was stunned.
No one had ever told him such a fairy tale.
!!While at the Mu residence, Yun s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ had always observed the habit of telling bedtime stories. When Yueyao was very young, she had always told the girl fairy tales.
Yueyao was different from Youyou. Youyou didn’t really like fairy tales, but he could fall asleep peacefully just listening to his mother’s voice. However, Yueyao really enjoyed listening to these fairy tales.
Later on, the boy designed a series of pop-up books for her. Yueyao loved these exquisite pop-up books so much that she could not bear to part with them. She had heard the story “Sleeping Beauty” more than ten times, but she never got tired of it.
Jing Yang listened with great interest, occasionally asking some questions that stumped Yueyao.
“Are there really sorceresses in the world?”
“Did the princess die?”
Many of these questions stumped Yueyao and put her at a loss for what to do. In the end, Yun s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ had to answer them.
Listening to them, Jing Qi clicked her tongue and praised the girl, “Little Yueyao’s storytelling ability is too strong. Generally speaking, children of this age are not that eloquent.”
Yun s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ smiled and said, “Yueyao isn’t very eloquent either. It’s just that she’s heard these stories too many times, so she can tell them so fluently.”
Yueyao leaned over the bed and flipped to the next page. It showed a castle shrouded in darkness. Through the gorgeous floor-to-ceiling windows, the princess could be seen lying on the bed.
“On the day she turned 15, the king and queen were not around, so the princess was left alone in the palace. She walked through the palace, from room to room, and finally she came to an old palace wing. There was a narrow staircase in the palace wing, and at the end of the staircase was a door with a golden key. When she turned the golden key, the door sprang open, and an old woman was sitting inside, spinning. The princess saw this and said, “h.e.l.lo, old woman! What are you doing here?” “Spinning,” the old woman replied, nodding again. “Funny how this little thing spins!” Then the princess went forward and tried to pick up the spindle, but as soon as she touched it, she fell to the ground and lost consciousness. The evil spell came true finally.”
“Did the princess faint?”
“Not only the princess. Everyone in the castle, including horses and dogs, the people in the house, the flies on the walls, and the rats in the walls, all fell asleep. Then, the king and the queen returned…”
“Previously, a kind sorceress said that this vicious spell would indeed come true, but the princess can avert danger. She would not die, but just fall asleep for 100 years.”
“That’s right! The entire castle became overgrown with hedges. Many princes came to explore, but they were all obstructed by the thick growth of hedges!”
When Yueyao saw that Jing Yang was engrossed in listening to her story, she felt quite pleased with herself.
Yun s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ and Jing Qi watched the two children quietly. Yueyao was engrossed in telling her story, and Jing Yang was engrossed in listening to it. For a moment, he did not feel sleepy.