A long silence. Ren Anle laughed softly, saying: "An Ning, what makes you so sure that even a promise of an exchange of half a country won't be kept, and what's to say about a will left behind over a decade ago? Taizi will eventually become the master of Yunxia, how could he really do this for Di Ziyuan by this point? There is nothing in the world that is impossible to do, and I, Ren Anle, insist on trying."
After finishing speaking, she raised her head and drank all the wine in the pot that she could. She stood up, her black robes reaching the ground, and lowered her eyes to look at the mournful royal princess: "An Ning, the past is gone. I am not Di Ziyuan, and I can't fulfill the old dreams you're reminiscing about. Gongzhu, life is only a few short decades, why not let it go."
An Ning's expression was complicated, looking towards Ren Anle's faraway figure that was walking away, and softly exhaled.
How could she let it go? Her mu-fei died early, the crown prince was young at that time, and her shifu was far away on Mount Tai. Although she had been returned to the palace, there was no one to take care of her, and she suffered a lot of hidden losses. She still remembered that porcelain doll-like young girl from the Di family standing in the ice and snow, wearing a snow-white fur coat, holding her chin up high and sternly admonishing Jiang-fei, who had punished her to kneel.
( mother consort, address for mother if she's a concubine)
"Jiang-fei niangniang, An Ning is the eldest princess of Dajing. Taihou can punish her, Bixia can punish her, the empress can punish her, you… can't punish her."
( address for imperial concubines, the Empress Dowager, most often the Emperor's mother)
When she said these words, her small body walked step by step through the path of the deep palace that was covered with ice and snow. She stood in front of Jiang-fei, straightening herself up, without any fear in her eyes at all.
From then on, although they only spent one short year together, it was Di Ziyuan who taught her what it means to be a self-reliant person.
There were only two people in her life who she couldn't ever repay the favour of. One was her crown prince brother who had taken care of her since she was a child, and the other was… Di Ziyuan who was imprisoned in Mount Tai ten years ago.
It had already been ten years… It's really been too long, so long that the appearance of that child had already been forgotten by her, and only the clear and powerful voice of the girl and her persistent gaze was left in her memory.
"An Ning." A cold voice suddenly sounded, and Han Yue stepped out of the shadows.
"Huang-xiong, when did you come here?" An Ning looked up in a daze, and spoke in astonishment.
"After returning to the capital, before even seeing Fu-huang, you have caused an uproar and even dragged along a minister of the Da Lisi. Your courage has truly grown!" Han Yue glanced at her and ordered, "Bring the princess back to the palace."
( to be the talk of the town, a big scandal, equivalent to the Supreme Court, in charge of criminal cases)
Looking at the expressionless Han Yue, An Ning stood up, took two brisk steps, and suddenly opened her mouth: "Huang-xiong, how much do you remember of her?"
Both of them knew who An Ning was talking about. Han Yue's expression wavered slightly, and he said, displeased: "An Ning, you care about too much."
An Ning's eyebrows furrowed. Seeing Han Ye's cold face, in the end, she didn't dare to offend him again, and unhappily followed the guards back.
Han Ye stood silently in front of the wine shop, beneath the light of the moon.
After a long time, he sat at the spot where Ren Anle had just sat, hiding himself in the shadows, pouring cup after cup of strong wine into his mouth.
Remember how much? He rubbed at his eyebrows. That girl, he remembered everything about.