Princess In The Palace

27. Tied Red Strings

Yi Ran turned around and fidgeted in her seat as many court officials who had not seen her before stared hungrily like wolves at the girl who was now at a marriageable age. Some of them were old, mostly harbouring perverse imaginations, and were definitely the type who kept hunting for young girls to keep as their plaything in their own manors.

Thus she excused herself from the grand celebration hall with a fake reason of needing to go to the back. Instead, having been slightly familiar with the interior of the maze-like palace, the girl strolled along the pathway that led to a pavilion built by the pond. Palace servants were seen lesser and lesser and she knew then that she had ventured into an area rarely visited.

Except that now there was a melodious sound of flute coming from the pavilion. The young girl took her steps carefully, while not making a sound, peered from the canopy of leaves of low-branched trees planted around. She saw a person dressed unusually, almost like a colourful costume, stood on the edge of the sheltered structure facing the pond, playing the musical instrument. When that person stopped playing, he turned around and saw her.

"Who are you? You do not live in the palace, do you?" He asked, as someone whose second home was the sacred palace itself.

"Ah...yes, no." Yi Ran replied. He hid his flute in his long sleeves and took his steps slowly towards her. He did not need to squint his eyes to be able to recognise her.

"Are you not the girl who looked like Empress Dowager Xin?"

"Yes, I am. You are...?"

"I am palace's head astrologer, Astrologer Wei." The Imperial Family had been relying on the ability of the astrologers to read the stars for future predictions for generations. The Wei had been sitting in the position of the head astrologer for generations, favoured by all the previous Emperors for their ability.

"Astrologer Wei seems to be very skilled in playing the flute." He smiled upon hearing her comment and pointed to the direction of the Grand Hall.

"The celebration is starting soon. Should you not be back already?"

"Oh, yes! Let me excuse myself." The little girl scrambled away in her dress, running her small little steps like a white kitten in a world bigger than her imagination. When she disappeared behind the trees, another person wearing dark robes approached the head astrologer, her face stern and stoic.

"Is she not the girl you have always been paying close attention to? Why did you pretend that you did not know her?" He turned his head to the right and saw his female shaman friend just standing right beside him facing the same direction.

"We were never acquainted. How could I show that I know her? What would she think of me?" He asked, but was not given a reply by her. So he asked again, another question, "what do you think? Do you feel the same thing as I did?"

"Yes. Her soul seems so sad, as if it is crying yet her body manifestation is showing otherwise. But..."

"But what?"

"Remember what you have always said about the Imperial Family's star being dim, signifying that it is in turmoil, when there is clearly nothing wrong? I do not know why but see in her that she will be the one to save the Imperial Family, but danger will approach her if that ever happens."

---

The serenity of the manor was one that intrigued many, for it was located in the Capital City, where crowds bustled through every single day, where merchants set up their business along the roads. The sunshine was warm but the breeze from the lake that carried the scent of nature cooled their bodies. The leaves rustled on the trees, the sound of it was soothing and calming to their ears. They both sat across each other on the terrace built by the lake, with reflection of yellowing trees spread around the surface. Birds were seen flying around, carrying sticks in their beaks to the trees to build their nests.

It was a peaceful autumn afternoon in their lives. Rù Yáo picked up a black chess piece and placed it on top of the chessboard, the sound of stone hitting against wood was pleasant to hear.

"Your turn," she said. Yì Rán then picked up one white piece and her eyes jumped around the board, her mind alternating between offence or defence. In the end, she placed the piece right beside the black piece her adoptive mother just placed, she chose defence.

"Done."

Rù Yáo lifted her hand to pick another chess piece, but her hand hit against the porcelain cup placed right beside the bowl of chess piece. The cup dropped onto the floor, the tea spilled all over the place, the cup broke into two.

"Madam!" Her servants standing by the entrance  hurriedly rushed over to their side, picking up the broken piece of the porcelain and the small pieces of it. Yì Rán instinctively bent her body slightly and her fingers reached out for the small piece.

"Ah!" She retracted her hand, seeing a small cut formed on her finger and a drop of blood oozed out from her injury.

"Young Missy!" Her servants saw the cut and panicked around, some running for the physician, some still clearing away the broken pieces of porcelain.

She looked at her injury, an indescribable feeling came in waves like a surge of emotions. Rather, it felt more like an ominous feelings.

One of their servants returned in a hurry and nodded her head towards them both.

"Madam, a messenger from the palace is here."

Thump! Why did her heart skip a beat?

---

Both the Madam and Young Missy of the Yú Manor appeared from the corner leading towards the front hall, where guests were received. The sight of a eunuch followed by a group of guards behind him sent her heart into a frenzy, but the sight of a golden scroll in his hands made her heart drop. The eunuch smiled at both of them before he lifted the scroll and spoke with his shrieking voice, "The arrival of imperial edict! Yú Yì Rán, receive it."

Nothing could hide how white Rù Yáo's face became, she forced her own hands to remain still and not trembling. While her knees grew weak, she let her body fall onto the floor into kneeling position while she gently grabbed the girl's sleeves, tugging on it, signalling for her to kneel as well. She remembered having gone through this scene once before, when she accompanied Crown Princess to receive the imperial edict that commanded her to enter the palace and be married to Crown Prince.

The eunuch's next words left her body numb, as numb as when she found out that the palace was sent into chaos nearly eighteen years ago. The world became silent, she turned her head to the right, seeing the young girl attentively listening to the eunuch.

"Receive the imperial edict." the eunuch ended his speech while he rolled back the scroll and held it out in his hands, handing it to the girl. Yì Rán nervously looked around, the corner of her lips unconsciously curled up when her hands touched the smooth surface of the scroll.

"Receiving the imperial edict, Yì Rán thank His Majesty."

Thank? He is one of the people you should hate, princess.

How much she wanted to tell her that, but she could not when there were so many eyes on them now that the edict had been issued.

---

I've noticed some comments being against the Emperor making Yi Ran the concubine of Second Prince instead of Prince's Consort.

As I've explained in the story above, the world only knew that the girl was originally a tomb cleaner and adopted later. She was only considered as a noble by name, not by blood. Even Consort Lan (Lana) couldn't become Empress in Love In The Palace series because she was also adopted. Realistically speaking, being a concubine to a prince was the best position that Yi Ran could get already.

Ok that's all! See you in the next chapter! :)