"Yi Shangyun, my princess treated you so well in the past, aren't you afraid of retribution for doing this? Even now, you still refuse to admit your true identity? If I had known this would happen, I should have frozen you to death that night when you were forced to kneel, so you wouldn't be flaunting yourself everywhere today, making a fool of yourself, being ungrateful, fickle, and stealing another woman's husband..."
Caught off guard by the sudden, harsh, and scathing barrage of insults and humiliations emanating from Jinlan's sharp tongue, and given his current unknown identity and the deep bond they once shared, he could only grit his teeth and endure it.
She knew that no matter how much she wanted revenge, there was a saying that "every wrong has its perpetrator and every debt its debtor." She couldn't possibly target the innocent Xuan Yuan Yue, but the two of them could never go back to the past and pretend nothing had happened.
Clearly, everything has changed.
But as she listened more and more, she felt something was amiss. She realized the mistress and servant seemed to have misunderstood her, believing she was plotting to steal her husband. She couldn't hold back any longer and was about to speak to them, trying to explain: "Your Majesty, you don't think it's...?"
Just then, Qiaolan and Qiaohui came around from the neighboring garden and approached.
From afar, Qiaolan could be heard speaking up in defense of her, saying, "Sister Jinlan, it is probably quite inappropriate for you to speak so rudely to His Highness's distinguished guest!"
Upon hearing the sound, everyone turned to look in the direction from which it came.
Qiaolan and Qiaohui quickly stepped forward to Yi Shangyun's side, looked at her deeply, and then bowed to Xuanyuan Yue, saying, "This servant greets Your Highness!"
At this moment, Qiaolan smiled and spoke up to explain, "Your Highness, this young master is not a member of the palace and is unfamiliar with palace etiquette. As the saying goes, 'ignorance is no excuse.' It's the middle of the night, and the young master was just enjoying the snow on a whim. If he has disturbed Your Highness, I hope Your Highness will forgive him for His Highness's sake!"
Seeing that the person who came was someone close to Mei Zhixuan, and not wanting the servants to have any suspicions about the affairs between their masters, Xuan Yuan Yue was about to say something to him when Jin Lan hurriedly stepped forward to interrupt her.
“Qiaolan, if it weren’t for the fact that you are someone close to the Third Prince, you probably wouldn’t even be able to enter this courtyard tonight, let alone plead for this audacious scoundrel who was spying on the Empress…”
Upon hearing these extremely unpleasant words, Qiaolan, unwilling to listen any longer, quickly stopped her, exclaiming in surprise, "'You audacious madman,' Sister Jinlan, you are mistaken! Have you forgotten so quickly that our Ladyship was just in the backyard during the day, intending to present this young master with a generous gift to express her gratitude? How come such a small misunderstanding has arisen at night? We haven't even heard the Ladyship say anything yet, but Sister, your words are full of sarcasm and barbs. I wonder what your true intentions are? There are many gossips in the palace. People who don't know the situation might think that our Ladyship has neglected to discipline the servants and has usurped the throne!"
Upon hearing this, Jinlan was instantly enraged and blurted out indignantly, "Qiaolan, Qiaohui! Our mistress has always treated you sisters well. You two must not associate with this vile woman. Do you know that she is not a man at all..."
At this moment, Xuan Yuan Yue seemed to finally wake up from her deep thoughts and hurriedly interrupted her sternly, "Jin Lan, shut up right now!"
Jinlan felt truly sorry for Xuanyuan Yue and still couldn't contain her anger, saying, "Your Majesty, they are all so presumptuous..."
Qi Liao had barely opened his mouth when he looked up and met Xuan Yuan Yue's extremely serious gaze. In the end, he could only let out a long sigh: "Alas," and then helplessly fell silent.
However, Xuan Yuan Yue turned her gaze and raised her head, looking up at the snow falling more and more fiercely in the night sky for a long time before gradually closing her eyes.
It was as if she was completely absorbed in listening to a sound that only she could hear in the world—the sound of snow falling.
She suddenly felt as if she had completely merged with the pure and clean falling snow, and suddenly, she finally understood.
Finally, she slowly relaxed her brows, which had been furrowed for who knows how long, and smiled faintly.
A moment later, she opened her eyes and looked steadily into Yi Shangyun's eyes, saying gently, "So, the sound of snow falling is beautiful whether in our homeland or a foreign land! Whether you are 'Yi Shangyun' or 'Benefactor,' I hope that you, like me, will come to love the sound of snow falling in Dongning Kingdom. I wait patiently, hoping to spend the rest of my life with you watching the flowers bloom and fade, the clouds drift and gather, in this palace year after year."
After she finished speaking, she looked at her intently for a while, then turned and walked straight back into the house without looking back.
Jinlan glared angrily at the rest of the group, then hurriedly followed them away.
Suddenly, the entire courtyard became unusually quiet, with only the sound of snow falling softly, like a song or a lament.
Yi Shangyun stood blankly in the snow, gazing at Xuan Yuan Yue's departing figure for a long, long time, before suddenly smiling.
Just then, she slowly turned around and silently said in her heart, "Princess, we both know in our hearts that this is something that can never be done in this life. Everything has changed."
In the still, white night, the earth and everything else were gradually covered by the heavy snow. The once rare and sincere friendship between the two young women, perhaps destined by fate, began to fade as they slowly turned and went their separate ways.
Even as the first rays of dawn broke, the snow that had been falling all night showed no sign of stopping.
As soon as dawn broke, the palace and its surroundings were covered in a world of white snow. Each snowflake was like a beautiful jade butterfly dancing in the sky, seemingly intoxicated; or like blown dandelions drifting and flying, covering the mountains and rivers; or even more like a gift from angels, nourishing the earth and all things to grow.
While all the citizens of Dongning were strolling through the streets and alleys with their families, their feet crunching with happiness, joyfully celebrating this once-in-a-century auspicious omen, a turbulent situation was quietly brewing in the imperial palace.
The morning court session had just ended, and the Empress Dowager was in her vast palace.
At this moment, kneeling was a thin, forty-year-old man dressed in official robes, with a goatee.
The man, perhaps unaware of why he had been suddenly summoned here, lay prone on the cold floor, burying his head very low.
The Empress Dowager, adorned in a phoenix robe, sat high above, her head adorned with jewels, exuding an air of elegance and nobility.
She glanced disdainfully at the person kneeling in the hall, then picked up a cup of hot tea and took a few sips before asking the kneeling person a question with a seemingly kind expression.
"Grand Historian, I have invited you here today specifically to ask you what your duties are in court?"
Upon hearing this, the kneeling man lowered his head and slowly replied, "Your Majesty, the Book of Songs, in the poem 'July's Odes, You Feng, says, 'In the seventh month, the Fire Star moves westward; in the ninth month, clothes are distributed. On the first day, the wind howls; on the second day, the chill is biting. Without clothes or coarse garments, how can we survive the year? On the third day, we take up our hoes; on the fourth day, we lift our feet. Together with my wife and children, we bring food to the southern fields, and the field overseer is overjoyed.' This speaks of the changes in the weather. Therefore, the duties of you, the Grand Astrologers, are to be responsible for celestial phenomena, calendars, astronomical and terrestrial events, wind and cloud formations, and divination."
Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager pondered for a moment and then feigned ignorance, saying, "Oh? Studying celestial phenomena, calendars, astronomical and terrestrial phenomena, wind and cloud patterns, and laws and calendars are all beneficial to the people, and I can understand that. However, isn't 'divination' a kind of witchcraft? I didn't know that the Grand Astrologers of our dynasty started studying witchcraft?"
Upon hearing this, the Grand Historian was startled and quickly raised his head to explain, "Your Majesty, I am terrified. You are unaware that the *Zhouyi* (Book of Changes) was originally designed for divination. No one can deny that the *Zhouyi* is a divination classic. From a certain perspective, divination can use a series of systems to explain various problems people encounter, which in itself has a philosophical meaning. Specifically, divination is not, as many people mistakenly believe, purely based on nonsense, but has a very strict system, many of which are quite objective. In ancient times, divination was managed by diviners and was mostly used to predict important military and national affairs..."
Before he could finish his enthusiastic speech, he suddenly slammed his hand on the table beside him and shouted angrily, "Enough! You're about to die, and you're still so self-righteous, spouting such nonsense!"
The imperial historian quickly lowered his eyes, puzzled, and said somewhat tremblingly, "Your Majesty, I am terrified. Please calm your anger, Your Majesty!"
The Empress Dowager was furious and said, "As the Grand Historian, you neither share the Emperor's burdens nor bring benefits to the people. Instead, you spout nonsense. You even dared to use witchcraft to tell the Emperor and all the civil and military officials that this quietly falling snow was an auspicious omen, indicating that a noble person would be arriving in our Dongning Kingdom? Such wicked talk is just asking for trouble. In my opinion, you are tired of living!"
Upon hearing this, the Grand Historian suddenly realized the truth and, feeling deeply apprehensive, defended himself, saying, "Your Majesty, snow has indeed always been considered an auspicious omen. For the past hundred years, our Dongning Kingdom has enjoyed perpetual spring-like weather all year round, without ever experiencing snowfall. However, after observing the celestial phenomena day and night for many years, we have finally witnessed this auspicious sign. This celestial phenomenon must be due to the arrival of a noble person!"
Seeing that he still seemed unrepentant, she suppressed her anger and said, "Oh? If that's the case, then may I ask where the noble person that the Grand Historian spoke of is now?"
The Grand Historian hesitated, then said, "This... I haven't yet been able to divine the answer..."
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