Princess In The Palace

19. The Fated Reunion

Rip!

Before she could even react, her veil was caught on the hairpiece when she lowered her body earlier and it came off, unfortunately covering half of Madam's face.

"What is this?" Madam lifted the veil from her face and turned around, seeing the little girl whose eyes bulged in shock.

That was not the main point. Her heart raced when she saw her face, she almost lost her energy as her whole body went weak, her lips trembled, her eyes teared up.

"I...I..."

I am done for, now Madam knows that I do not have any birthmark on my face. She looks so upset right now. I will be fired.

"You...look...so beautiful..." She only uttered those words before turning around, not giving any other comment about the non-existent birthmark. Yì Rán was confused that Madam was not upset but she could not be bothered with it, as long as she was not fired she was grateful enough.

---

"Thank you! I will be going now!" Yì Rán smiled and bowed her head deeply to the other senior servants who were at the front of the manor. They all smiled at the girl they called veiled girl and went back to doing their chores. The young girl carried her clothed bag and went on to walk through the paths of the Capital City, unaware that someone was following her.

---

The slums on the outskirts of the Capital City? She is not walking towards there, she is in fact...walking towards the palace? Who is she? Just...who is she actually?

Madam, who was dressed plainly and had her hair pulled half-up and a wide bamboo hat covering her face, followed the little girl ever since she left the manor. She followed closely, enough to make sure that the young girl did not notice her but she also did not lose sight of her. She hid behind a tree when the girl took the forked path and headed to the Imperial Graveyard.

If...if I kill her right here and now...no one would know, right?

Yì Rán walked along the outskirts of the graveyard for sometime before the old hut was inside. There was another woman outside of the hut, squatting as she blew air into a bamboo pipe to light up fire.

"Sister!" Yì Rán smiled as she called out to Pī Yáng.

"You are back! Go in, your aunt can't wait to see you." Pī Yán pushed her body up and put aside the bamboo pipe, wiping her hands on the apron she wore and smiling as she opened the door to the hut.

"Yes! Aunt Ān!" The girl sprinted off into the hut while Pī Yáng smiled at how cute the girl was and continued lighting up fire to cook their dinner.

Madam held her hands over her mouth, preventing herself from gasping as her eyes teared up.

Is that...Pī Yáng? And Aunt Ān...would be...Ān Yù...?

Leaning against a huge old tree trunk, Madam slid down, her body was weak against what she had just seen.

Yì Rán...Yì Rán...this name...is she...Princess Yì Róng?

A tear escaped her lids as she sobbed uncontrollably, unable to control the  emotions that were mixed within her mind in that moment.

---

Two days later, when Yì Rán went back to work at the Yú Manor, she was met with a quiet Madam who said completely nothing to her, such that she thought Madam was in a horrible mood and refused to talk to anyone. Later in the afternoon, Madam left the Manor without saying anything to her.

She put on her cloak that covered her body and her face, especially her nose and mouth, leaving only her eyes to be seen. She could not even forget the path even if she wanted to. It all felt too vivid for her and she followed the path she took two days before.

When the hut was finally in sight, her heart beat as if there was an earthquake vibrating throughout her body. Her legs grew weak but she persisted and painstakingly took her steps in the snow which cold was numbing.

She saw Pī Yáng putting up their newly-washed clothes on a rope with both ends tied to opposite trees, hoping that it would dry faster despite the it being the winter. When she had finished putting up all their clothes to dry, she picked up her basket and turned around, seeing a figure hidden by a cloak standing right beside their hut. She warily took her step slowly, squinting her eyes at the stranger but for some reason, she felt some sense of familiarity towards that person.

"Who...are you?" she asked. That person did not reply, and there was a deafening silence for a short while before that person hastily pulled away her cloak, revealing to her the face that was missing for years.

"You...you..."

"Your master must be inside right? Are you going to invite me into your hut?" Pī Yáng was at loss for words when she saw the face in front of her. She could only gape, putting down the basket on top of the wooden kitchen table.

"Pī Yáng? Who is outside?" A familiar voice was heard from within the hut. Madam invited herself and walked straight to the entrance of the hug.

"Have you been well, Aunt Ān?" She asked, earning a look of surprise from Ān Yù who then put side her embroidery work.

"Xi-Xiǎo Rù...how..."

"Or should I say...Mistress Lǐ?"

---

"I now go by the name Rù Yáo. I also need to hide my identity, for my survival." Rù Yáo sat right opposite Ān Yù while Pī Yáng sat on the other side of the table.

"I am also Madam Yú now, to Minister Yú." Ān Yù awkwardly smiled to brighten up the gloomy atmosphere.

"You are living a great life now, that is good," Ān Yù said.

"Am I?" Rù Yáo chuckled cynically.

"..."

"Having to hide our real identity to live...having to live after witnessing what happened in the palace...having to go through whatever that had happened...am I living a good life? Are we living a good life?" She clenched her fists, hating the fate that the Heaven had decided for them.

"That..."

"How funny, life is just so unpredictable. You were the Mistress, yet look at your state now. I was just a lady-in-waiting, yet now people call me Madam Yú."

And Crown Princess...Her Highness was the highly-respected primary wife of Crown Prince, daughter of Wéi family, yet she had already long vanished from the surface of the earth.

"...."

"Is that girl really Princess?"

"..."

"Cannot be, right? How can Princess look like her...how can she even look identical to that wicked woman?" Her voice trembled, her eyes were red. Was it because of anger...or was it sadness?

"I..."

"Princess' name is Yì Róng, not Yì Rán! Tell me where is Princess? Where?!"

"Yì Rán is...Princess Yì Róng." Ān Yù sighed as her tears trickled down her cheeks, regretting the life that had befallen upon the poor princess.

To think that I even had the idea to even kill her...what am I? Your Highness Crown Princess, please forgive your insolent servant...

---

Finally Rù Yáo, Xiǎo Rù! Meet her again!

Ok, did I keep my promise of updating regularly? Hehe. I'm still writing using this broken screen omg-.- btw please do comment and vote and share if you could! Thankssss!

See you in the next chapter!