Anyone who didn't know better would think that Prince Gong's Mansion was bullying people.
Otherwise, Wang Zhang would have taken the money and kicked them out long ago.
Seeing how delicate she was, and with commoners watching outside the mansion, Wang Zhang couldn't bring himself to use excessive force, so he had no choice but to ask Su Wanyan for instructions.
"..." Su Wanyan looked at the map on the table, pondered for a few seconds, and then looked up: "Then let her in."
Since there's no way to avoid it, let's take this opportunity to test her.
Su Wanyan asked Qiuye to put away the map on the table and set the books aside for the time being.
Just as Huang Ye finished brewing the tea, Xiao Bu brought the person in.
"This humble woman, Yunyi, greets Your Highness, the Princess."
Yunyi looked delicate and frail, her eyes red-rimmed and her face streaked with tears. She held two full bags of silver in her hands and curtsied as she presented them: "Your Majesty, these... these are the silver Your Majesty gave to me that day. I have never used them. I hope Your Majesty will understand."
Her voice was still trembling with sobs as she spoke.
When Su Wanyan gave her the money, she thought that the journey was long and there was a high chance of encountering thugs and ruffians along the way. So she gave her more money so that Yunyi could hire a few bodyguards to protect her and make her safer on the way back to Wengcheng.
This was something that Qiuye had specifically instructed her to do when she gave him the money.
Considering that she might have other siblings or no means of livelihood in Wengcheng, she gave her an extra sum of money, hoping that she could use the money to find something to do.
For Su Wanyan, money may not buy true feelings, but it can sometimes solve many problems. After all, she is only a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl, and having more money to rely on is never a bad thing.
Of course, if she gets scammed out of the money or squanders it, then it's just bad luck on her part.
She couldn't just feed her the food directly.
She had considered all aspects, but she never expected that after saying she was leaving the capital, she would become Feng Yao's maid and then return to the capital.
This is what Su Wanyan finds most unacceptable: not the displeasure of being betrayed, but the unpleasant feeling of being made a fool of.
Su Wanyan forced a smile, not rushing to take the silver back, nor telling her to get up, and asked, "I heard you were crying outside the mansion gate with tears streaming down your face. What happened? Is it that you're reluctant to return the silver, or did someone from my Prince Gong's mansion bully you?"
Yunyi shook her head repeatedly, her expression even more pitiful: "This humble woman is just heartbroken."
Su Wanyan's eyebrows twitched slightly: "Feeling sorry for him?"
As she spoke, Yunyi began to sob softly again, tears streaming down her face as if they were free.
She said, “Your Majesty, I have known the Prince since I was a child. Ever since the Prince returned to the capital from Wengcheng, I have been thinking of him. I heard that the Prince was seriously injured when he returned to the capital, which made me even more worried. I thought that if I could come to the capital one day, I would definitely come to see the Prince.”
"I've been worried about this for five or six years. When I came to the capital this time, I thought the prince was doing well, but I didn't expect... last night the prince said that he was not doing well."
At this point, tears streamed down her face again: "The thought that Your Highness has not had a good life all these years makes my heart ache."
"..." Yu Nanqing said something bad, she wanted her to pay back the money.
And yet, she actually felt sorry for him.
Su Wanyan was at a loss for words and could only wave her hand and say, "You may rise."
She looked at Qiu Ye, who understood and, after Yun Yi stood up, stepped forward and took back the two bags of silver that she was holding.
"Sit down," Su Wanyan gestured.
Yunyi lowered her eyes, and I felt a pang of pity for her. I curtsied and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
After she sat down, Huang Ye made her some tea.
Su Wanyan then asked, "Miss Yunyi, how many people were originally in your family? Are they... all deceased?"
It's not good to bring up other people's sad stories, so she softened her tone and carefully chose her words.
Yunyi nodded: "My family originally consisted of seven people. Besides my parents, I had three older sisters and one younger brother. They were all killed when Wengcheng fell..."
At this point, she began to sob again.
"..." Su Wanyan was quite helpless and gestured to Qiuye.
Qiuye then stepped forward and handed her a handkerchief.
Yunyi accepted it with red eyes: "Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Were they all killed by the people of Donghai when Wengcheng fell?" Su Wanyan asked again to confirm.
Yunyi wiped away her tears and nodded: "Yes."
"Do you remember what happened that day?"
"I will never forget you."
"If that's the case, why did you turn around and become a slave in the East Sea?" Su Wanyan asked.
This is what she most wants to know.
Yunyi covered her face and cried, "Your Majesty, you don't know, I didn't want to do this unless I had no other choice."
"Oh?" Su Wanyan shifted her body slightly. "Tell me about it."
A posture of being ready to listen.
Yunyi sniffled and said pitifully, "I met Princess Fengyao by chance. At first, she only said that she was going to the Great Jin Dynasty to do business with her father. Wengcheng is a border city, and merchants from the East China Sea often travel there. I believed her."
"After getting acquainted with Princess Fengyao, she inquired about my background. Upon learning that I had been thinking of the Prince for a long time, she said she would take me to the capital. I thought, I have no relatives or ties in Wengcheng, so I might as well go with Princess Fengyao. Perhaps I can really see the Prince."
"When I arrived in the capital and met the prince, I was overjoyed. Seeing that the prince was well, my wish was fulfilled. Since the prince did not want to see me, I thought it would be better to return to Wengcheng."
"But thinking back, I have no relatives in Wengcheng. Even if I go back, I will be all alone. Just when I was feeling lost, Princess Fengyao said that I should come with her. She would stay in the capital for a while. I had nowhere else to go, so I agreed."
She looked up at Su Wanyan with red eyes and said, "I didn't know she was the seventeenth princess of the East Sea. I only found out after I went out of the city with her and met up with the second prince of the East Sea. If I had known earlier, I would never have become Princess Fengyao's maid."
"Your Majesty... how could this humble woman not be tormented?"
Su Wanyan lowered her eyes, implying that when she left the capital with Feng Yao, she did not know that Feng Yao was the Princess of the East Sea.
Su Wanyan didn't know why she was so conflicted about these things, but she always felt that Yunyi gave her a strong sense of separation.
The expression on her face when she was by Feng Yao's side did not seem like she was forced to do anything, but now she was crying her eyes out in front of her.
Moreover, she cried not because she was recalling the pain of losing her loved ones, but because... she felt sorry for Yu Nanqing.
Every word she uttered conveyed that she was very worried about Yu Nanqing, and that she had come to seek refuge with him.
Because Yu Nanqing refused to accept her, she stayed by Feng Yao's side.
Her predicament didn't seem to stem from anything particularly painful or heartbreaking, but rather from the fact that she couldn't stay by Yu Nanqing's side. As a result, her behavior seemed somewhat like... a case of feigned illness.
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