Chapter 21.
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recap: in the previous chapter, Rù Yáo found out from Pī Yáng that Yì Rán entered the palace, came to like Empress Dowager Xīn and believed the ongoing rumours about how Crown Prince, Crown Princess and Mistress were despicable people. Ān Yù also finally revealed the reason behind her fragile body, which was caused by the poison given by Empress Hán, Crown Prince's birth mother. Ān Yù told Rù Yáo to take care of Yì Rán when she was gone, because she felt that her time was up soon. When Rù Yáo was staring outside the window of her room, Minister Yú entered and they both conversed for a while, before Rù Yáo brought up the idea of adopting Yì Rán and Minister Yú agreed.
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"Minister Yú has agreed." Rù Yáo firmly exclaimed, sitting straight on the tattered cushion in the worn-down hut.
"Bu-but will it be okay? Will she be safe?" Ān Yù's lips trembled slightly knowing that the little girl would leave her grasp. She might be the daughter of Crown Princess, her rival, but she had grown to love the little girl who was so pure at heart that she worried about how she could face the world. Then again, the aunt of the family thought, perhaps that was why she failed to see through the world, because she was also that naive last time that she ended up how she was today.
"She is a real princess. I must ensure that she must at least live like one, or else how am I supposed to face Crown Princess?"
"You are right...she is a princess. She should not live like a servant like us."
"Do not worry. You still can see her. I am sure Princess will want to see you from time to time as well. If she wants to see you, I will let her, though of course her learning comes first. She has a lot to catch up on."
Reading, writing, literature, dancing, singing, musical instruments and many more. Ān Yù could have taught her all those as well, but to ensure that no one doubted their identities as commoners, she did not.
Perhaps the girl would have a better life as a tomb cleaner or servant forever. It was regrettable that the acts of people who were trying hard to protect and save her, instead became the acts that brought her to her calamity. It was even more tragic that the Heaven's decided that all the sins of people from the past must be ended by her. What had she done in her previous life that she was burdened with such a huge responsibility?
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Her lips curled into a big smile when she heard of the news. The smile soon faded away when she remembered of how she could not meet her aunt and sister anymore. Was that the price to pay?
"I know you will miss your aunt and sister. You can still see them. However, you have a lot of learning to do and they are more important. Understand?" Rù Yáo's slender fingers picked up the veil that was left lying on the low wooden table in her bedchamber. She stretched out her hand and handed it over to the little girl.
"I think you should keep wearing this. Do not take it off unless you are alone in your room or we are alone together. Remember, alright? I will talk to My Lord about it."
"Ye-yes." Yì Rán retrieved the piece of veil from Rù Yáo's hand and tied the strings around, ensuring that it covered her face again.
"Hmm?"
"I mean...yes, mo...ther..." It felt weird for her to suddenly call someone she served before her mother, however the fact that she was going to have a mother drove those irrelevant thoughts away. She was going to finally have a mother and father! It was something that she had never thought she could before, in her whole life.
I have to act like I am Crown Princess, I must do this.
Rù Yáo's eyes softened when she saw the never-ending and widening smile plastered on the little girl's face, hidden behind the thin sheet of veil. She sighed and then turned her head towards the closed doors of her bedchamber.
"Biān Lì, come in and bring Yì Rán to her room." Rù Yáo's loyal servant pushed the doors which creaked open and stepped over, walking towards them and immediately going down onto a kneel.
"Eh? Starting today?" The little girl's eyes bulged in surprise, she did not know that her life was changing starting that day, immediately. She thought that she could at least have a day or two of preparation for her heart and also to pack her belongings.
"Of course, I have talked to your aunt and sister already. Now go."
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Repeating again, reading, writing, literature, dancing, singing and musical instruments. She had been repeatedly practising and learning new things every single day but it seemed like it was really too much for her to learn everything all at once. She was sixteen years too late to learn everything after all. She forgot several strokes in writing, read the wrong characters, forgot the lines to poems, fell down when dancing, mixed up tones in singing and hurt her fingers when playing pipa and zither.
Maybe she was just not born to be a noble after all, she thought. However, after two more months of hard work, she finally began to start getting the hang of everything. She memorised new words everyday, able to write the correct characters with the stroke order as well, able to memorise three to four easy poems, her body became more flexible in dancing, her voice was polished to suit singing and she excelled in pipa rather than zither.
It was the new year week, thin layer of snow showered the earth with its pureness of white. The streets were covered with snow up to one's ankle, not too thick nor too thin. The temperature was so cold that white puffs of air escaped the little girl's mouth whenever she exhaled. Immediately she put on her wide bamboo hat and draped another wide sheet of veil covering her hat. She pulled on a pastel pink fur coat, keeping her body warm and hid her hands behind a furry warmer. She bowed in the directions of Rù Yáo and turned around, heading towards the exit of the city, in the direction of the palace. After spending months in the Capital City, she was finally allowed some days to spend with her aunt and sister as it was the new year. The snow was slightly slippery but she was used to walking on it.
One step, two step, she began counting the number of steps to prevent herself from getting bored. She hummed some tones to entertain herself in the lonely walk. Even though it was new year, the streets of the Capital City nearing the gates were surprisingly empty, but she knew it was definitely crowded on the other side, at the market area because everyone was headed in that direction.
Panting heavily, she pulled on her coat again as it was slipping off and kept her eyes on the road, taking her steps carefully and making sure that she did not fall, until all of a sudden she saw a pair of feet in front of her and she lifted her head, seeing a familiar face blocking her path.
"It is interesting how I am already able to recognise you from the way you dress without looking at your face," Second Prince flashed a short-lived smile before his face went stoic again while he held tightly onto the lead rope of his horse. "But you are not wearing all white like a ghost today, you are actually wearing some pink colour. Are you finally becoming a woman?"
She was just utterly speechless by this prince.
"Hey, why are you so quiet, aunt?" He tied the lead rope to a wooden pole right next to the gates of the Capital City that were headed to the palace. He cast a glance at the guards who were on their stand-by position and they all nodded at him.
"A-aunt?" Yì Rán's face scrunched up in disbelief at what she had just heard. Second Prince called her aunt? What joke was he pulling on her?
"Yes. Are you not the girl adopted by Aunt Rù Yáo? Accordingly, I should call you aunt." He pulled out a black cloth and tied it around the lower half of his face, just like how she covered her face with her veil.
"No, I mean yes."
"Great. You do not seem busy now, are you? Now come with me." He gestured his hand for her to follow him while he walked past her. When there was an awkward silence filling in the gaps between them, he turned around seeing her still not moving.
"I-"
"Just come with me for a while, it will not take long. We are now family, are we not? We should get along."
Aunt and sister will be alright with me being a little late right?
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Except she did not know that a while for Second Prince meant quite long for her. They headed to the market, seeing everything being covered and showered in bright red colour. Almost all the stalls had been set up even though new year had just past because it was the busiest month of the year, with people buying varieties of food, decorations and clothes home. All the business owners had the same thinking in mind, it was too good of a business opportunity to pass up on. However, they were not there to buy anything and thus they headed straight to the theatre.
"Usually I do this every year with Xiǎo Yuán, but that stupid eunuch of mine must have eaten something rotten yesterday. He had been at the restroom since morning."
Crowded was an understatement, the theatre house was extremely packed but they had an enjoyable time watching the dance performance of the most popular dance theatre of the Capital City. They left immediately once Second Prince paid for the performance.
"Thank you for bringing me to watch the performance. Now I should go." She bowed her body slightly and was ready to turn around and leave before his fingers caught her veil and tugged on it slightly.
"Why so soon? Wait, just a while more. Follow me, there is this really beautiful thing that you should see." Again he took the first step out the theatre house, without waiting for the little girl. It was difficult for her to chase up to him through the bustling crowd but what she could not see through her veil was how he turned around from time to time, making sure that she was still following.
In no time, they were already at the south gates of the Capital City, with the guards immediately making way for Second Prince the moment the prince pulled down the black cloth.
"You can take off your veil and hat now. There is no one here anymore." They had ventured into a secluded path from the main road to the Capital City. It was an uphill path that took the girl so much of energy to climb. The little girl awkwardly raised her hands and lifted her hat, letting the cold air hit her face. It felt cold but she loved how it felt. The wind was blowing her loosely-tied hair into a mess but she did not care. She followed Second Prince closely, noticing that he had dressed like a commoner, something she did not notice when she was still wearing her hat.
The sky gradually showed shades of orange and pink as they continued climbing the hill, passing by rows of trees on both sides of the path. When they reached the top, Second Prince kicked away dried branches and leaves on the grounds, creating an even surface for them to sit on. He sat down first, while Yì Rán awkwardly forced herself to sit beside him, ensuring that there was a distance between them enough to fit another person.
"The sunset here is amazing. I happened to discover this recently when I was hunting a rabbit that ran up here." She did not know that this Second Prince had an interesting hobby of watching sunset.
"Why...is Your Highness watching the sunset?" Indeed it was not an activity a male would usually do, especially a prince.
"Qīng Qīng, she heard from somewhere that the sunset here is beautiful and has been bothering me to paint it for her...although I have to admit I am not a good painter."
Second Prince unbelievably has a kind side to him as well, although only towards his sister.
"Why not you do it for me?" He pulled out a square piece of white cloth and waved it in front of her, while his other hand gripped a wooden tool with hair at the end of it, it was a brush. There was a moment of awkward silence between them as the young girl stared at the items in his hands in confusion.
"I...cannot paint. First Prince is good with painting. Why not ask First Prince to help Your Highness with it?" Her words stopped him from his gaze at the sunset and he turned his head around, staring at her, thinking that she must be joking. However, when he saw no traces of joke and found her eyes filled with eagerness, he realised that she was still an untainted piece of living canvas. He just chuckled and looked away from her, at the sunset before looking back at her again.
"Should I tell you to change or stay the way you are?" She should not be blamed for her ignorance of the nature of the palace. When she was still a palace servant, jealousy made other servants outcast her and thus she was never informed of the invisible tension between Empress and Consort Yú.
"Huh?"
The wind once again blew past them, her hair fluttering gently with it as she stared at him through her small world, while he stared at her through his rotten world. Both their noses and ears were red from the cold but they held it in.
For some reason, she found his smile extremely warming while he found her innocence extremely comforting.
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Okay for those of you who don't understand why Second Prince must call Yì Rán 'aunt', here's why:
Consort Yú was Minister Yú's daughter. Rù Yáo was his mistress, but since she wasn't Consort Yú's birth mother, Consort Yú didn't have to call her mother. Second Prince was Consort Yú's son, meaning he was Minister Yú's grandson, while Rù Yáo adopted Yì Rán, meaning she became Minister Yú's daughter and on the same level as Consort Yú. That's why he had to call her aunt and Second Prince became her nephew.
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See you in the next chapter!