Finally, from ten girls who remained, only three girls: Ying, Xi Shi, and Zheng Dan, passed the full selection and training process.
Their departure to Wu was just a matter of days.
The other girls' parents some time would visit their children. But Ying's mother had never visited her. Therefore one day, Ying asked Fan Li's permission to visit her mother before she had to depart to Wu.
"That village is not too far from the palace. Tomorrow when I go to the palace, you could ride my chariot with me. I will drop you there!" Fan Li said.
"Thank you, Minister Fan," Ying smiled happily.
The next day, she woke up early in the morning and prepared some stuff for her mother. She waited patiently on the chariot side until Fan Li showed up.
Fan Li saw how Ying looked very happy. He laughed and said, "You must have been missing your mother so much! Look at you; you look so happy and excited!"
Ying nodded, "Also, this is the first time for me to ride a horse chariot! I rode a cart pulled by an ox last time!"
Fan Li laughed. Among the girls who were under his training, Ying was the most open and candid. She had never hidden her background and never shy to admit that she was a coarse plebeian.
But now after three years, with her ethereal beauty and the way she conducted herself, she didn't have any slight look of a coarse plebeian. She was a refined, elegant young woman.
Fan Li helped her to get inside the chariot. That's the first time Fan Li touched and noticed how beautiful her hand and fingers were.
The young girl's heart jumped. Her face was a bit blushed. How she wished the hand, which just helped her to get in the chariot could always hold her hand and protect her. However, she knew it was just wishful thinking.
"You looked a bit nervous," Fan Li said.
"My first time in riding a chariot!" She lied. Of course, she couldn't tell what's inside her heart.
"You lie to me! You're worried about something else!"
Ying lowered her head and said, "I haven't seen my mother for three years!"
"How come she has never visited you?" Fan Li asked.
Ying only shook her head. "I'm just an adopted daughter. Probably, that's the reason why she doesn't bother to visit me!"
Fan Li looked at the girl in front of her and saw a glimpse of sorrow and loneliness in her eyes.
The chariot was slowing down as it's arriving at the gate of Ying's village. Ying was getting more nervous.
"The chariot will wait for you here before sunset," Fan Li said.
"Thank you, Minister Fan!" Ying politely said and hopped off the chariot.
She had not visited her village for almost three years. Yet she was still familiar with the village, which didn't change at all. She walked with two bundles of packages in her hands.
Some villagers who saw Ying didn't recognize her. They were confused when they saw a beautiful young woman with such expensive clothing walked along the street. The way she walked and dressed revealed her status. She must have been a noblewoman.
Some curious villagers followed the girl to see where she's heading to. Who would have thought that she entered an alley where poor people lived.
Ying entered her house compound. And she was confused as she saw a girl around twelve years old was winnowing rice in front of the open kitchen. The girl was also confused and stopped her work. "Who are you?" she asked.
Ying didn't answer and entered the house. She saw that her mother was breastfeeding a baby.
Her mother was shocked when a stranger was entering her house. She was more surprised when she saw the stranger's face.
"Mother?" Ying said and walked forward and bowed in front of her mother. "Your daughter comes to visit you!"
"Ying, is it you?" her mother asked.
"Yes, it's me! I'm sorry that I just visit you today!" Ying kneeled in front of her mother to pay respect to her.
The girl who was outside; entered the house together with the middle-aged man. "Wu-Niang, who is she?" asked the man.
"She's my late husband's daughter!" her mother said.
"Oh! The wolf girl?" the man asked.
Her mother gave the baby who was sleeping to the girl and said, "Help me to take care of your brother!" The girl complied, took the baby and left her mother.
"Husband, you get out first. Let me talk to her!"
Her husband nodded and left them both alone.
Her mother sighed and helped Ying to get up. "I remarried not long after the queen took you with her. Who would have thought that I could have a son!"
Ying nodded, "The queen will send me to Wu. Most likely, I will not be able to take care of you. But I have asked her to take care of you!"
Her mother observed how beautiful and elegant she was. She sighed and said, "Your father said that you're an unpolished jade. He was right!"
Ying lowered her head. She felt pain in her heart. Even after almost three years, her mother still acted coldly to her.
She opened up her bundles and said, "Mother, I have something for you. This is my embroidery. I hope you like it!" She passed a bolt of embroidered silk to her mother.
For Madame Wu, that's the first time for her to touch such a beautiful fabric. She started to shed her tears and said, "Ying, I have never treated you kindly! Now that you have become a refined woman, you should not revisit me! Soon you will be a king's woman. This is not your place!"
Ying tried not to cry and answered, "You are my mother! This is my house where I used to live! Come, mother! Try this cake that I made! Call your husband and your stepdaughter to eat with us!"
Madame Wu called her husband and her stepdaughter to enter the house to eat together with Ying.
The little girl, Madame Wu's stepdaughter, stared at Ying without blinking her eyes. "Mother, she's not a human!" She said and pointed at Ying.
Ying turned her head to that girl. She had heard that word a thousand times.
"She looks like a goddess in the temple!" The girl said again.
Ying had never heard someone said something nice like that about her before. She smiled at her and said, "Little sister, please take good care of our mother!" She took a hairpin from her hair and gave it to the girl. "You should wear it one day when you grow up!"
The girl was delighted to receive the hairpin. But Madame Wu snatched the hairpin and returned it to Ying said, "You don't have to. You need it more than her!"
Ying took the girl's hand and put the hairpin in her hand again and said, "I don't know when I can revisit this village. Let this hairpin become an identification token between her and me!"
Madame Wu nodded and sighed, "Girl, said thank you to your Ying-jiejie!"
The girl happily said thank you, and Ying caressed her head and said, "Please, take good care of our mother!"
Ying also caressed the baby boy's head in her mother's embrace. "Perhaps when I return to this village again, he's already a teenage boy!"
Seeing how sincere she was, Madame Wu sighed. "Your father must be proud and happy if he sees you like this!" Madame Wu shed her tears. "Now that I have my own family, and you will be a king's woman. There's nothing that binds us as a family. You shall not come here to visit me again!"
Ying nodded and made a kowtow in front of her mother three times before she left the house.
With a heavy heart, she left the house. She could tell that her mother didn't want to have anything to do with her again. She turned her head to see her face for the last time. Her mother cried. She felt a big lump on her throat. She tried hard to hold her tears.
Ying thought that her mother cried because she cared for her. She didn't know that her mother cried since she was embarrassed with her past deed. Her mother thought that Ying was a bastard child of her husband. Therefore she hated the toddler who was just one or two years old. She had tried to kill the toddler by strangling her neck many times, but the toddler just hadn't destined to die.
Seeing how Ying turned to be a stunning lady, yet she was still willing to call her mother, Madame Wu felt guilty and embarrassed.