Chapter 2: Farewell on the Eve of Leaving

"What's the truth?" Xiu Yu avoided Sanguan Bao's gaze, turned her head to look at the vast grassland, and said, "My daughter knows that father is very hesitant. But no matter how hesitant and conflicted father is, how can he keep me?"

"Yes, how can father keep you?" Sanguanbao looked at his daughter deeply, and finally put his hands behind his back and strode out of the training ground.

Xiu Yu stared at her father's back, unable to recover for a long time. For the past seventeen years, she had been practically pampered by her father. If it weren't for the memory of three hundred years still lingering in her mind, she would probably be crying loudly at the impending separation at this moment. After all, people are sentimental.

"West Lake Vinegar Fish, Eight Treasure Duck, Three Cup Chicken, Jade Belt Soup..." At dinner time, Xiu Yu cooked herself and made almost all of her specialties.

Sanguan Bao and Dong E sat at the dining table, watching their daughter bring dish after dish to the table. Dong E, feeling sorry for Xiu Yu, was about to tell her to sit down and let the servants handle the rest. Sanguan Bao, however, gestured to his wife to say nothing and do nothing, just to quietly watch their daughter.

Xiu Yu placed the last vegetarian dish on the table, followed by a pot of wine. "Mother taught me how to heat the wine. Although I usually hope you drink less, today is a special day, so it's okay to break the rules."

"Hurry up and sit down." Dong E held Xiu Yu's hand tightly and pulled her to sit next to her. "We've cooked so many dishes in two hours. How can your father, I, and you finish them?"

"If it's not all used up, Father will give it to his soldiers." Xiu Yu picked up the wine pot and filled the cups next to Sanguan Bao and Dong E. Then she said, "Perhaps, this is the last time my daughter will cook at home."

"Yu'er." Although Dong E had already prepared herself for her daughter to enter the palace one day, when this moment was really about to come, her sadness was difficult to describe in words.

Xiu Yu always had a smile on her face, and that sweet smile was enough to melt people's hearts.

"Don't worry, mother. I have the support of you and my father. No matter where I go, I won't be bullied." She raised her lips slightly. Although she was smiling, her eyes revealed a sadness of impending departure.

Dong E couldn't hold back any longer. She stretched out her arms and pulled her daughter into her arms, gently stroking her back again and again, muttering to herself, "My daughter, now that you're gone, from now on, you'll be inside the Great Wall, and your father and I will be outside. Will we ever meet again?"

"Mother." Xiu Yu knew that her mother's tears had already fallen on her shoulders. She hugged Dong E back, and her words were choked with sobs: "Maybe, maybe..."

"There's no maybe." Sanguan Bao gripped his wife's shoulders and said, "Madam, Yu'er, please stop crying. With Yu'er's beauty, she'd be a standout even in the majestic Forbidden City. The only maybe is that our Guoluo family will rise to prominence in the future because of Yu'er."

"Master." Dong E's arms loosened, she picked up a handkerchief and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "Didn't you say that the prosperity of the Guoluo family would not depend on women, but on military exploits?"

"Our family has no shortage of military achievements." Sanguan Bao picked up a piece of fish for Dong E and said, "If Yu'er succeeds in the Forbidden City in the future, it will not only benefit the Guo Luoluo family, but also her own fortune! The Forbidden City is different from other places. It will be very difficult to live a peaceful life inside."

"Father, are you imagining life in the palace?" Xiu Yu picked up a piece of green vegetables for Dong E with her chopsticks and said, "Father, don't worry. I have no intention of competing. My greatest wish is to do my job well and live a good life."

Sanguan Bao disagreed. "You can choose not to fight for the red walls and green tiles just because you don't want to. In the harem, so many women only revolve around the current emperor. Even if you don't want to fight, others will force you to fight, force you to fight!" He shook his head and sighed. "No matter what Father says now, you'll probably be skeptical. Wait until that sedan chair arrives, wait until you enter that palace gate, and then everything will slowly become clear."

Xiu Yu nodded helplessly. She only knew what harem life was like in movies and TV dramas, but she had no idea how different the real Qing Dynasty harem was from the movies and TV dramas. But it didn't matter. She had the skills, the skills, the brains. At the very least, she could treat her future husband like a boss. Three hundred years later, a young woman like her could climb to the position of chief engineer, handling the best projects in the entire group. She had both skills and strength.

The moon was high above the willows. Xiuyu's boudoir was unlike any other princess's. The faint scent of powder, left by her makeup, filled the room with the delicate fragrance of sandalwood, a truly elegant touch. The furnishings were also unique. Besides the essential girlish items on the dressing table, a long sword hung on the wall, and a weapons catalog and various blueprints were placed on the desk, giving it a distinctly masculine air.

At this moment, Xiu Yu was holding a scroll of chess manual in his hand. There was a chessboard on the table, but there was not a single piece on the board.

Sanguanbao walked into his daughter's bedroom and asked with a smile, "It's almost three o'clock in the morning, why aren't you asleep yet?"

Xiu Yu stood up and helped her father sit on the other side of the chessboard. She said, "My daughter had already lain down, but she tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. So she had to get up and find something to do."

Sanguan Bao was a military officer, good at riding horses and fighting, but when he saw the chess manual in his daughter's hand, he was completely overwhelmed! Naturally, he couldn't help but mutter, "Can't you embroider like a normal princess?"

"It's not like I can't embroider." Xiu Yu pouted slightly, opened the chess box next to Sanguan Bao, then opened her own, and said, "I know that father is not good at Go, so how about we play Go, the game that I often play with father?"

Sanguanbao stroked his beard. Although he didn't answer, he had already picked up a chess piece from the box and placed it on the Tianyuan position on the chessboard.

Xiu Yu held back her laughter and placed one of her own pieces next to the one dropped by Sanguanbao.

As Sanguan Bao made his move, he said, "Father has asked around, and if you don't want to enter the Forbidden City, there are actually ways around it."

"Father, just keep that method in your heart, and don't tell it out loud." Xiu Yu looked at the chessboard. If she placed one more piece, it would become four. However, in order to make her father happy, she still made a useless move.

Sanguan Bao naturally didn't notice that his daughter was deliberately letting him win. He just said curiously, "I thought you..."

"Father, do you think I don't want to enter the palace?" Xiu Yu lowered her eyelids slightly and said, "The Forbidden City is majestic and austere, and I long for a free and unfettered life. The word 'wish' is hard to say. However, the red walls and green tiles are also mysterious. I want to go in and take a look, to see how different it is from life outside the Great Wall."

"If she goes in, she might be confined for life." Sanguan Bao held the chess piece in his palm, gazing into his daughter's bright, almost expressive eyes. Honestly, he could sense that if this precious daughter entered the palace, the Guoluo clan might truly soar to prominence thanks to her. But he also understood that the towering, austere Forbidden City was like a cage for a woman. Once a bird entered, the door was welded shut, and even with wings, it could no longer fly.

Xiu Yu exhaled softly and said, "A lifetime, that's all. I'll never regret the path I've chosen. Father, it's your turn now."

Sanguan Bao held the chess piece in his hand, his eyes fixed on the chessboard. If he dropped this piece, he would win, but he landed on a corner. He stood up and said, "Yu'er, if you have made up your mind, then listen to what Ama says. Ama hopes you win, whether it's this game or any other."

Looking at Sanguanbao's departing back, Xiuyu placed the chess piece in her hand on the chessboard. The five pieces formed a line, and she won in the end.

As autumn turned to winter, the weather outside the Great Wall was unusually cold. Xiu Yu rode a tall horse and galloped through the training grounds. She had changed into the clothes of a soldier of the Bordered Yellow Banner, looking very heroic.

Outside the training grounds, a man dressed as a scholar was peeking in, wanting to go in, but feeling a little timid. Finally, Xiu Yu saw the man, dismounted, and walked out.

"Fourth brother, you came here to ride a horse, didn't you?" Xiu Yu patted her horse gently and let her mount go to eat grass.

The man she called "Fourth Brother" was from the same clan as her and was the fourth oldest in the family. Because he had been in poor health since childhood, his father gave him a girl's name like Si Yu.

Guo Siyu was still holding a scroll in her hand, with a hint of shyness in her smile: "Yu'er, please don't laugh at Fourth Brother. You know very well that I can only read a few scrolls and have never ridden a horse."

Xiu Yu smiled and said, "Fourth brother, please don't call me Yu'er. I'll think you're calling yourself."

Seeing Xiuyu's eyes curved, Guo Siyu didn't know whether to put the hand holding the book in front of her or behind her back. "Xiuyu, I came to you to ask..."

"What do you want to ask?" Xiu Yu raised her head slightly. She was actually quite annoyed by Guo Siyu's dithering, but Guo Siyu was the elder brother of the clan after all, and as a younger sister, she had to greet him.

Guo Siyu mustered up her courage and asked, "Can you stay here instead of going to the capital?"

"Huh?" Xiu Yu was a bit stunned. She hadn't expected that her fourth brother, the most knowledgeable person in the clan, would ask such a stupid question. Could it be that reading too much really makes people stupid? "Fourth brother, you know that all the daughters of our bannermen have to go to the capital."

"That's true." Guo Siyu lowered her head slightly, not daring to look at Xiu Yu any more, and continued, "Although everyone is going to Beijing, some have gone in and come back. Xiu Yu, Fourth Brother..."

Xiu Yu whistled before Guo Siyu finished her last words, and her horse came galloping over. She jumped on the horse in one smooth move.

"Fourth brother, some things are better kept in your heart. If you really say them out loud, it will do no good to either you or me." After saying that, Xiu Yu pulled the reins and let the horse carry her away.