Chapter 4.
(Important announcement below)
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Recap: In the previous chapter, Yì Róng moved to the Capital City and lived in the outskirts of the Imperial Mausoleum as tomb cleaner together with her aunt Ān Yù and sister Pī Yáng. Her name was changed to Yì Rán. Then a few years passed and she grew up to become a beautiful girl, resembling someone she was definitely not supposed to. When she was visiting the Capital City to run some errands, she met a man around her age.
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That man stared at her, confusion filled his eyes as he tried to comprehend her. Why was there a need to move his horse?
"What reason might it be for?" He asked as he placed both his hands at his sides, looking at her straight in the eyes.
"Um....your horse is stepping on my veil." So he turned around and threw a short glance on the veil before returning to look at the girl.
"It is ruined anyway. But if you still need it, get it from my servant." And with that, he left her staring at him in shock. She could not believe that someone as rude as him could exist. Brushing away the dust on her dresses, she stepped up to the servant guarding his horse.
"Sorry to trouble you, but could you move the horse for a moment? My veil is..." Yì Rán pointed to the veil which the horse was stepping on. The young man dressed in black turned to look at her. He was stunned for a moment before he was finally able to react to her words.
"Oh? Ye-yes...!"
When she finally retrieved her now dirtied veil, Yì Rán sighed and stuffed it into her basket. At the same time, her fingers dug into her basket and she pulled out another spare veil, exactly identical to the one which was dirtied. She wore back her hat and draped the veil over again before she entered the restaurant.
"Ah! Veiled Girl! Finally you are here!" An old lady's voice appeared from among the noisiness filling the restaurant. She limped her way through the crowds and adjusted her dresses before she lightened up. Yì Rán took the piece of cloth covering her basket and revealed a pile of beautifully embroidered red cloths.
"Yes, these are great! These are totally perfect for dowries!" The old lady dug into her white pouch tied around her waist and took out several coins. She retrieved all the cloths in the basket and threw the coins inside, smiling at Yì Rán who bowed in return.
"Thank you Madam Mǎ." Her voice sounded like a song and she grabbed her dresses, turning around as she collected the coins in the basket and kept them safely in her white pocket tied under her sleeves. She adjusted her veil before untying the knot of the rope and mounted her horse. She patted her horse and it started trotting slowly while she enjoyed the rowdiness of the city. When she left the city into a guarded path, she heard the sound of horse trotting as well behind her, but she paid no heed to it. However, the sound followed her for sometime, until they are nearing the palace.
"You in front! Stop! What are you doing?!" Yì Rán stopped her horse when the masculine voice shouted at her. She did not dismount her horse but only turned around to look at the man from behind her veil.
"What?" She asked, still confused at his angry tone.
"This is the path to the palace!" He stopped right next to her, she recognised him as the rude person she met earlier at restaurant and the person following him as his servant.
"I know." She answered simply, still confused at his thousands of inquiries.
"Commoners are not allowed in the palace unless permitted, do you not know that?" He asked again.
"I know." Yì Rán replied.
"Then why are you still here?!" He exclaimed, expressing his disagreement clearly at Yì Rán, who paid him no heed.
"Weird man." She muttered under her breath, but purposely said it slightly louder for him to hear while she rode on, leaving him behind.
"Hey! Are you not clear about the rules?!" The man shouted again and chased up to her, stopping his black horse in front of her. Yì Rán simply sighed before replying,
"I am extremely, extremely clear about the rules. Now, may you excuse me." She rode her horse past him again, who was so persistent and chased up to her again.
"I will have to arrest you if you do not explain clearly your business heading to the palace."
When the path is forked into two, Yì Rán stopped and sighed again, before voicing up.
"Listen. This path, is my way home." Yì Rán pointed to the path leading to the mausoleum. She saw him squinting his eyes of disbelief at her, so she decided to pull his leg.
"Yes, I am a ghost." And she left after saying that, her white veil fluttering in the presence of gentle wind. The man did not believe at first, but he saw her fully-white dressing, paired with her white horse, it did seem believable for a moment. He immediately rode his horse quickly back to the palace.
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"He was extremely rude. I just told him I was a ghost." Yì Rán placed the basket on the table as she took out her veil and hat.
"Really?" Pī Yáng asked as she chuckled slightly.
"Yes." A sudden gush of feelings turned Pī yáng's expression serious as she hurriedly reached out for Yì Rán's sleeves. She groped around and retrieved the wallet. After looking inside and counting, she heaved a sigh of relief.
"Luckily he was not a thief."
"Of course not. Who dares to steal in broad daylight at that guarded path?" Ān Yù said in between her embroidering.
"Right. Anyway, come help me, Yì Rán! The Imperial Mausoleum visiting is coming up soon. We need to work."
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Every year, every spring, the Imperial Family visited the Imperial Mausoleum, paying respects to the Late Emperors. They were the ones who brought the Empire to its thriving state today, they were never forgotten. They might have passed on, but they seemed to be living in the spirits of the palace, the golden blood cage. The cage that was obtained by sacrificing the lives of many.
As per usual, Empress Dowagers were to stay back in the palace while the remaining members of the Imperial Family left the palace in their carriages in a luxurious parade-like manner.
He sat in his carriage together with his half-brother. They sat in silence, not really talking for they were, in actual fact, not supposed to be friendly to each other due to their mothers in the palace. One was the First Prince, the son of Empress, while the other was Second Prince, the son of Consort Qí. The carriage rattled along with the movement of the horse, and that was the only noise filling their carriage.
"Are you tired, Big Brother? You have not really said anything ever since you left the palace." Second Prince decided to break the ice that seemed to have always existed between them. However, he made no effort to look at First Prince in the eyes. Instead, he looked at his own fingers as he tried to kill time.
"I do not talk much in the first place." First Prince replied as he lifted the curtains covering the small window of the carriage. He peeked out of the window, looking at the crowds of servants following them while he let the fresh air entered the carriage.
"It is rare to see you in a carriage. You usually ride on your own horse." First Prince commented while still looking out of the window, observing people which was his favourite thing to do.
"You are right, but I always take the carriage for the mausoleum visiting. It is just that this year, Father Emperor is asking all of us to cut down on living expenses, and that is why we are in the same carriage. Otherwise, I would be in my own."
"Right. I did not really notice you taking your carriage during the previous years."
"Of course. Big Brother rarely pays attention to your surroundings, am I right?"
Indeed, small talks between them was difficult as they seemed to always carry a mocking tone with each and every single word they said. So they went back into silence, each minding their own business.
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"Yì Rán! Where are you? Yì Rán?" Pī Yáng came out of their hut, raising her voice while she tried to find the young girl. Her worries increased by every single moment that passed. She was still no where to be found and it worried her that she might have been in danger, or maybe she did meet danger.
Further away from their hut, a young girl who wore white dresses, that were just as clean and pure as her soul and heart, leaped around the bushes, her hands pushing the leaves aside as she squeezed past, her eyes never left the ground.
"Yì Róng! Where are you?" She kept scouring through the bushes, walking past trees, searching highs and lows for her feline friend. It was a small cat, with fur as white as snow and two patches of grey fur on the tip of its tail and its back. It was only a kitten when she found it a few years back, abandoned by its mother, wailing fearfully in the middle of the bushes.
But the cat could not be found anywhere near the places it would frequent. Delving nearing the centre of the mausoleum, she could hear the noises and voices of a huge crowd, the chanting of sutras and gong sounds followed by endless footsteps. She had never seen the procession before despite having lived there for almost five years, cleaning all the tombs and the main grand temple.
When she noticed her white feline smelling the pile of rocks and digging up the ground beneath it, she called it whisperingly.
"Yì Róng!" The cat reacted to its name being called, but instead ran away deeper into the mausoleum. She thus took a thousand little steps chasing up to her cat, ignoring how deep she had ventured into the mausoleum, how she had entered the area forbidden for her to enter during the procession.
"You!" She stopped when she heard a voice that was clearly directed at her, someone who had trespassed into an area she was not allowed to. She looked up from in between her loosely-tied hair that framed her face and was let down fluttering in the gentle wind. She recognised the face, it was the very same face as the one she saw just a few days ago.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, the thought of it had not set into his mind. It was only until the next moment that he noticed it, her face that bore an extreme resemblance to a face he saw before.
"Wait... Have I...seen you somewhere before?" He asked, but still could not figure out where he seemed to have seen her face before.
"Maybe?" Yì Rán thought that he was merely joking with her and decided to entertain his jokes. She looked around for her cat again and her eyes were set on the belt tied around his waist and the crown fastened on top of his head. Her eyes bulged for an instance and she panicked, still deciding on whether to curtsy or not when another voice came in between them.
"Yì Rán!" Pī Yáng hastened her steps and immediately kneeled in front of the prince, at the same time pulling Yì Rán down with her.
"G-greetings, Your Highness! Please pardon my sister who did not understand the rules!" She pinched Yì Rán gently under her sleeves.
"Gree-greetings...Your Highness..." She spoke in between the sudden realisation that he was a prince, though she was not sure which prince he was. It was the first time in her whole life that she had met anyone from the Imperial Family, at least that was what she thought.
"Who are you people? What are you doing here?" The prince felt flattered proud at the amount of respect he received but at the same time, used to it, so he only cleared his throat unconsciously.
"We clean the tombs here. Please pardon my young sister as she did not realise that she has entered the premises that she is not allowed to." Pī Yáng kept her arms and forehead on the ground, prompting her sister to do the same as well. The little girl's heart beat increasingly faster, afraid at the punishment that might befall her anytime soon.
"Fine. You may rise." He replied, his eyes still stuck onto the beautiful girl who seemed wah too familiar for him. He waited for the moment she rose from her position, and could not stop staring at her, pondering hard at where he could have seen that face.
"Your servant will take our leave fi-"
"What is happening here?" From behind, another man of around the same age as the prince strolled towards them, on his head was also another crown that was fastened tightly with golden pin.
"Big Brother..." Second Prince spoke softly, almost begrudgingly as though he did not want to acknowledge him.
"Greetings, Your Highness!" Pī Yáng pulled Yì Rán into greeting the prince together with her again, while making sure that their eyes were firmly on the ground and never met the princes'. First Prince kept his hands behind his back and strolled casually towards them when he saw the young girl, the one who seemed like she was cowering in fear.
"Who are you?"
That was his first words ever to her.
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Ok so hi! Here is my announcement. I'm so excited as I already can't wait to reveal this good news! Love In The Palace is officially published on Tapas.io and I hope that all of you will go and check it out and support me as well! It goes by the same title, I've posted a chapter on Love In The Palace for more details, please check it out! Thank youuuuu!
So,
That's the end of the chapter! Ok it felt slow because I only introduced both the princes at chapter 4 lol...anyways thanks a lot for reading, see you on the next chapter!