Chapter 461 - 332: Departure
No matter what, the Princess’s journey went smoothly this time, and she is about to leave soon. From beginning to end, no one disturbed her conversation with the Young Master Gu, which is a good thing.
Cheng Yu’s tense heart relaxed a bit, and he gently relocked the door.
Miaoyan, with reddened eyes, bid farewell earnestly and resolutely: "Gu Lan, farewell."
"Farewell." Gu Lan saw the emotions in her eyes and offered a gentle smile to reassure her, his eyes shimmering.
Through an extremely narrow slit, he watched the figures of the young girl and the little eunuch in palace robes being gradually swallowed by the night.
As the night returned to silence once more, Gu Lan held the hand stove in his arms and walked to the window. Turning back to look at everything around him, he picked up the cracked white porcelain teacup and softly sighed:
"After tonight, we’ll meet no more."
Sitting by the window, he watched as the stars and moon faded, and under the flickering lights, snowflakes danced and swirled in the dim light.
This was the first snowfall of the year.
After Cheng Yu left Gu Lan’s room, he realized it was snowing. He borrowed a green bamboo umbrella from one of the four guards he had bribed, holding it with one hand to shield Rong Miaoyan while supporting her with the other as they walked through the snow.
Rong Miaoyan took the palace lantern from Cheng Yu’s hand to carry it herself, leaving him no way to hold the lamp.
The palace lantern cast a warm yellow light in the depths of the night, illuminating the long and deep road ahead. In Rong Miaoyan’s mind was still the smiling face Gu Lan had shown her. Her lips stung from being bitten, and the hand gripping the lamp handle turned pale.
In the silent night, only the soft sound of the falling snow could be heard, along with the occasional call of a night bird from afar.
The sound of "crunch, crunch" was made by the cloud boots stepping on the long jade bricks of the path.
In the distance, there were patrolling guards, but Cheng Yu, familiar with this route, could naturally avoid them.
This late at night, the Princess couldn’t possibly leave the palace and return to the Princess Mansion. They were heading back to Empress’s Yonghua Palace, which was also a place where the Princess had once lived.
A cold snowflake drifted into Cheng Yu’s eye, and he instinctively blinked, looking at the girl beside him.
The Princess nearly rested the entire weight of her body on him. Although he practiced martial arts and naturally didn’t find it heavy, he realized something was wrong with the Princess.
All along, no matter what difficulties, obstacles, or setbacks she faced, Her Highness maintained the noble demeanor of a Princess of Dayan. He had never seen her so weak, as if without his support, she would have fainted by now.
Cheng Yu couldn’t help but softly comfort her:
"Your Highness, you, you mustn’t be too sad. At least the Young Master wasn’t hurt or tortured. Although she is a woman, good fortune will bless her, and we, we will surely rescue her."
He thought Miaoyan was still sad over the Young Master being a girl.
"Even you know we are friends," Miaoyan said.
Cheng Yu nodded, puzzled, blushing as he spoke:
"Isn’t... isn’t it so? I had heard that you are a perfect couple made in heaven, though I never imagined the Young Master was actually a woman, which is truly unbelievable."
The thought of Young Master Gu, who was the dream of so many young palace maids, actually being a woman almost made Cheng Yu laugh out loud—not intending to mock the Princess for unexpectedly falling in love with a woman.
Hearing his words, Rong Miaoyan shook her head even more sorrowfully, the guilt, self-blame, and sorrow in her chest making it difficult to breathe.
She stopped walking, unable to resist looking up, gazing at the palace structures shimmering with faint light amidst the silver-white snow.
Cheng Yu carefully stayed by Rong Miaoyan’s side, unfamiliar with the scholar’s poetic admiration of early winter snow, unable to compose poetic verses for such a scene. He only knew that being able to do something alongside the Princess brought him contentment.
Miaoyan’s bitter words echoed: "You are clear on it, yet I overlooked such an important matter. I fell into the Emperor’s trap, causing her—" to reveal her identity.
Cheng Yu said: "Your Highness, how have you harmed the Young Master? You’ve been worried about her suffering or getting hurt and took such a great risk to see her. To me, you are the best master one could wish for."
All these days, Cheng Yu had witnessed how worried the Princess was about Gu Lan—four days ago, upon finally learning Gu Lan might be held in the Imperial Court, she stayed up all night in anxiety. Last night, upon confirming Gu Lan’s location, the Princess hurriedly came in person that very night.