Beautiful stranger.

The rising sun has already flooded all the streets with golden light. A cool morning wind blew and dispersed the heat, which threatened to assert itself in the middle of the day and force ordinary hard workers to pour cold sweat.

Yulan slowly passed her gaze over the brightly decorated buildings and shops, which were full of food and outlandish decorations.

Some children have already run out of their homes and started launching kites into the sky. These snakes were made in the form of blue fish. Their scales shone brightly in the sun and left a trail of small golden highlights on the ground.

The author of the novel once described the history of the formation of this fish as a national symbol of the Southern Nas. It was her, as an instructive fairy tale, that was once told to the young Crown Prince.

The story was like this. One day there was a terrible drought in southern Nan. Ordinary people were dying of thirst and hunger. The livestock had become emaciated and no longer brought their former benefits. The whole crop has dried up irrevocably.

Then a poor fortune teller turned to the palace. She told the emperor about her prophetic dream and named:

"This drought is caused by the sudden dream of the rain goddess. To awaken her again, you need to turn to the goddess of generosity. She is her closest associate. If the imperial family shares the remaining water with the people and prays to the goddess every morning, day and night, then a downpour will fall on the dry land of Nana and save the country from destruction."

Hearing the fortune teller's words, the emperor only grinned and kicked the insolent woman out. In a few days, all the water that was stored in the palace suddenly disappeared and left the imperial family holding the bag.

People were threatened with mass extinction. But at the moment when the fortune teller was leaving the palace in anger and cursing the imperial family, the youngest princess ran up to her. She promised to pray to the goddess and fulfill all her precepts.

Despite her father's strict prohibition to give water to ordinary people, the princess has not drunk a drop since then, giving all her part to the maids and their families. On the day when the girl came down with fever from thirst, she had a strange dream.

She saw a wide blue lake in the depths of a dark cave. The water in it magically filled up on its own.

After waking up from her sleep, the princess no longer felt thirsty. She realized that the goddess of generosity had heard her pleas and given her a sign of where she should seek salvation. The girl led her people to the right cave, but to her surprise there was no water there. Only a deep stone depression, which marked the sad end of the country's history.

In a moment of despair, the spirit of the goddess of generosity appeared before the unfortunate girl and put her before a choice.

«The magic lake cannot take energy from the void. If you're willing to sacrifice yourself for these people, I'll fill the lake with water and wake up the rain goddess. If not, all the people who came with you today will die in this cave, but you will go to heaven with me and become an immortal goddess.»

The princess did not think long. She agreed to give her body in return for the well-being of her beloved people.

At the same moment that the girl gave her answer, the cave was flooded with blue light, and the lake began to fill with clear, shiny water. There were glowing blue fish swimming in it, one of which was the princess herself, who was forced to swim in cold water for the rest of eternity and protect the cave from malicious intruders.

People couldn't get enough of the miracle that had happened. They dived into the lake with their heads, washed their sweaty faces in it and bowed to the fish, tearing their foreheads on the stone floor until they bled.

Upon returning to their homeland, they committed lynching of the emperor, who was already dying. Chosen for the role of the new ruler, the prince declared the blue fish a symbol of the country. A country that has since become famous for its generosity and pure heart.

Recalling the story, Yang Yulan looked at the shiny plates on fish scales that decorated almost every building. The blue lanterns that were supposed to light up at night were now serving as decorations in the hands of young ladies.

The hum of the crowd was already heard everywhere. Many people in ceremonial masks and costumes walked along the road and bought food and gifts for their friends and relatives.

Various decorations, fans, ribbons – in honor of the holiday were overpriced. However, the people did not skimp on this day. People, as if distraught, spent their last money on various useless trinkets.

Yang Yulan walked around with her mouth agape, rejoicing like a child at every little entertainment that petty charlatans staged to make more money from stupid tourists. It's been a long time since a girl has been so cheerful. She danced when she saw a group of musicians, bought sweets and hot food.

People walked past her with undisguised mockery in their eyes.

«A lonely girl runs around stalls in men's clothes and performs strange dances right in the middle of the road. She's definitely some kind of local lunatic» they thought.

Yulan only noticed that something was wrong when she accidentally bumped into a woman who was leading a small child. She recoiled from her as from a leper, saying: «Goddess, save this poor soul.»

Yulan wasn't too upset about what had happened. On the contrary, she found the situation extremely funny.  However, in order not to confuse the people having fun at the festival too much, she bought a ceremonial mask with a fish face from one of the stalls and proceeded towards the main street. There should be a parade, which will be attended by the imperial family.

The procession was accompanied by the sound of fireworks soaring into the sky, the roar of drums and the ringing of bells. On one of the platforms, a huge paper demon was burning, with an elegant silver sword shining in its heart. The procession was led by several people in long gold robes and expensively decorated headdresses. They walked along a wide road and threw fluffy little flowers on the sides. However, before these flowers could touch the ground, they were snatched out of the air and pressed to people's hearts.

Yang Yulan once heard from Chu Qi about this lovely tradition. People believed that these small orange flowers brought good luck to those who caught them, and were also able to fulfill one cherished wish.

The girl suddenly wanted to take part too. She stretched out her hand, hoping to catch a flower thrown in her direction, but it was suddenly intercepted by a pair of deft hands. Ignoring this, Yang Yulan continued her attempts. Finally, grabbing one of the buds that had fallen in her direction the third time, she did not have time to hold it in her hands for a second, as it was roughly torn from her hands.

– Hey!! Give it back!

The girl noticed that most often those who so brazenly stole flowers from others were homeless children. These little ones turned out to be much more agile than the princess expected.

«This is a straight up scam»

Yang Yulan didn't know if the flower's power would work if it was stolen from its intended owner, but apparently the thieves themselves didn't care much.

The girl decided to go a smarter way and came up with a scheme.

Moving a little away from the crowd, the princess waited for a flower flying in her direction and with a gentle movement of her hand pushed it away from her into the far corner. To a place where, according to her calculations, there were no people. The moment Yang Yulan reached out again to grab the falling bud, she felt a pair of cold hands grabbing the flower at the same second.

– Hey!!

Yulan suddenly stopped talking and froze in place, unable to utter a sound. In front of her stood a young girl in a wide red robe. Her face looked like it was carved out of marble. The Phoenix's thin eyes stared straight at her in obvious disbelief. She had a small mole under her left eye, which gave the girl a more graceful appearance.

The princess was about to claim ownership of this flower when her thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice from the crowd.

– His Highness is coming! His Highness is already here!

Yang Yulan and the stranger looked away at the same time.

– Take it, I don't need it, – the unknown girl said with disgust. She threw the flower in front of her and headed towards the crowd.

Yang Yulan couldn't think of anything to say. She remembered the girl's slightly detached and sad expression when she reached for a flower flying at her.

«Since you stretched out your hand to catch it, then you still need it » Yang Yulan grinned and, as if deciding something for herself, ran after the stranger and hid the flower in her pocket. The stranger didn't notice and went on.

«Maybe if she gets this flower, she'll become less mean.»

Yang Yulan did not linger over trifles anymore. She bought some more food at a nearby counter and went to watch a romantic show being prepared.