"Where is she?" Su Zhiruan looked up and didn’t see any trace of Cuihua.
"She waited for a while, found out that both you and the Prince were here, and then left."
"Have her co to the Imperial Study Room to find ." Su Zhiruan could roughly guess what she wanted to say, but since Cuihua left after coming, it showed she hadn’t figured it out yet.
Su Zhiruan wasn’t in a hurry to see her, preferring her to co back once she had a clear mind.
Ji Xiaoyuan, as an envoy coming to the Wan Dynasty, was also busy, and the Ministry of Rites had prepared a banquet for entertaining various nations’ envoys.
The two reluctantly parted ways, each going about their own business.
Near dusk, Su Zhiruan finally finished eting with the ministers, and there were only a few petitions left.
"What hour is it?" she asked the female official lighting the lamps, rising to approach her with inquiry.
"Your Highness, it is now Xushi. Would you like to have the al served?" The female official thought for a mont, hesitantly looking at Su Zhiruan, "Your Highness, earlier... Princess Jialan ca... learning that you were seeing ministers, insisted on waiting outside the door."
"Order the al and prepare an extra set of bowl and chopsticks." Su Zhiruan hadn’t expected her to arrive so quickly, so she walked out with the female official.
"Yes." The female official followed behind Su Zhiruan, sowhat surprised, as now everyone knew their Princess was the true Princess Jialan. If it were anyone else, they’d have been exposed for their true identity and dealt with long ago, but their Highness was indeed different from ordinary people, even in her thinking.
Su Zhiruan saw Cuihua standing along the corridor outside and squinted slightly, not in a hurry to approach.
Over this long ti, the little girl who once grew up in the countryside now indeed had a touch of grace.
Cuihua, seeing Su Zhiruan, was first stupefied, then walked hesitantly forward to salute, "The commoner girl greets Your Royal Highness."
"It’s been a long ti." Su Zhiruan walked over, her face revealing no emotions of joy or anger, simply nodding, "Rise, co with ."
Cuihua felt uneasy from the start; after sneaking a look at Su Zhiruan’s expression, she beca even more apprehensive, fearing she would be sent straight to the dungeon, or harshly punished, or at the very least, beheaded and hung on the city walls... The more she thought, the paler her face beca, and her whole body wobbled.
"Your Highness... I know my sins are grievous, and my death is not worth lanting. I beg you to grant a cup of poison or a white silk, I..." Cuihua started to speak incoherently, kneeling on the ground, her face pale as paper, her eyes full of despair.
"Who said I was going to kill you?" Su Zhiruan had already stepped onto the corridor’s platform, as attendants with dishes stood beside Cuihua, waiting for Su Zhiruan’s order.
Cuihua was stunned, "Ah."
"Co in, or the dishes will get cold." Su Zhiruan opened the door, turning to add, "We’ll talk over dinner."
Cuihua hesitated in her steps, after entering and sitting down, the palace attendants entered in single file, the aroma of steaming dishes wafting over, Su Zhiruan, having worked all afternoon to the point of dizziness, only felt better after having a cup of hot tea.
She was not the Emperor, so dining did not require grand ceremonies, just a al over a sandalwood square table opposite Cuihua. When palace attendants wanted to serve dishes, Su Zhiruan declined, ordering everyone to leave.
Cuihua didn’t move her chopsticks; still tremblingly, she awaited Su Zhiruan’s verdict, "Your Highness, it’s all my fault, I willingly plead guilty to imprisonnt. At the ti, I was bewitched, and now I only wish to repay my sins with death to Your Highness."
"There’s no need for you to repay." Su Zhiruan picked a piece of shredded tofu in chicken broth into her bowl, "Tell , how were things in the Wang Dynasty’s palace? And your encounters, were there others besides the Regent King who discovered your identity?"
Su Zhiruan spoke with dual intentions; although Wan Dynasty had planted internal responses in the Wang Dynasty, what the internal response knew was limited. She couldn’t gauge whether Cuihua’s words were true, but in joining the dots, they might bring new insights; additionally, encountering her, the true Princess Jialan, Cuihua now sought death alone. It might be better to let her talk it out.
Cuihua opened her mouth, finding there were too many things, not knowing where to start for a mont.
"On that day—I was welcod back to the Imperial Palace..."
"Afraid of being discovered, so I tried to approach the Prince Regent... but his heart was only for you, other n or won couldn’t enter his eyes." Cuihua said with a bitter smile.
...
Su Zhiruan chewed carefully, asking Cuihua to repeat the critical points.
After Cuihua spoke, feeling much relieved inside, she even felt that dying imdiately wouldn’t matter. She actively poured tea for Su Zhiruan, her inner baseness and unworthiness displayed to her, but now, Cuihua strangely felt no forr sorrow, replaced instead by ease.
In a few words, she couldn’t possibly explain her regret during this ti. She used to think that becoming a princess was the most longed-for ambition of every woman in the world, giving her status, power, wealth, and beautiful attire.
But once inside, she realized how far off her thoughts had been. How could a marriage princess have any power, trapped in a foreign land, poor in etiquette, unable to speak the formal language of formal occasions, constantly subject to both overt and covert slights from servants?
Countless tis, she regretted why she had taken on Su Zhiruan’s identity to co to the unfamiliar Imperial Palace. Her nightly dreams were filled with the roasted sweet potatoes her parents handed over, life with childhood friends climbing mountains and catching fish in the river, where she could laugh freely, with no need to be scrutinized in luxurious attire. Even while eating plain als in the country, staying close to a loved one, gradually shedding immaturity, giving children a beautiful childhood, watching them grow up, was a form of happiness.
She even tried to seduce Ji Xiaoyuan, especially once he’d returned to the palace as Prince Regent, her intentions beca more apparent, seeing him as the only familiar person in an unfamiliar place. If she could beco the Regent Queen, or even a concubine, she would be willing.
But Ji Xiaoyuan was truly Ji Xiaoyuan, for despite all her efforts, she couldn’t even get within two steps of him. The once robust and capable hunter Ji Xiaoyuan was now the unapproachable, icily aloof and noble Regent King, whose face even the Emperor had to consider; he’d returned solely to have soone find his wife.
Nobody knew who his wife was, so everyone kept speculating, with the noble ladies in the royal capital waving their handkerchiefs in hopes of being noticed, willing even to be his concubine, yet he remained unmoved.
Only she knew whom Ji Xiaoyuan was searching for; she laughed bitterly, occasionally admiring Yue Lao’s red thread. Had she not impersonated, they would truly be destined.
Cuihua chattered on at length, with Su Zhiruan putting down her chopsticks to drink so tea.
"Have so food," Su Zhiruan invited her to eat once she saw Cuihua fall into long introspection after speaking.
It truly affird the saying, that human plans are inferior to heavenly will.
Su Zhiruan initially only wanted to find the task target and complete the task as soon as possible; she didn’t like procrastination, so with a task always hanging overhead, she tried not to think of other things, only desiring to complete the task quickly before considering more.
Yet, who could have imagined that once abduction dragged her back, she and Ji Xiaoyuan would not see each other for nearly ten months?
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