"Aran, why are you just standing there? The Prince will be back at the manor soon. Every single item inside and outside Chenyang Pavilion must be replaced with new ones. You know how severe the Prince’s mysophobia is; there cannot be a single speck of dust in the pavilion." Aran stared at Grand Eunuch Bai, who was chattering incessantly in front of her.
"The Prince has been away for two months managing the floods in the south; he must have lost weight. I need to go check on the kitchens... make sure you clean Chenyang Pavilion thoroughly." Grand Eunuch Bai flicked his whisk and strode away from Chenyang Pavilion, leaving Aran to finally snap out of her stupor.
Everything before her eyes was too familiar—so familiar that it felt unreal. Aran let out a heavy sigh, fearing she was merely dreaming. She walked out of the pavilion, and the intricately sculpted garden landscape caught her off guard once more.
"Miss Ran, this is the Pearl Luohan Pine that His Majesty just bestowed upon the Prince. Where do you think it should be placed?" Xiao Xizi, Grand Eunuch Bai’s apprentice, asked Gu Ranran, who was staring off into space. This young woman was one of the Prince’s ten closest attendants and the only woman allowed to enter Chenyang Pavilion; the Prince left the management of the pavilion entirely to her.
"What year is this?" Aran asked Xiao Xizi urgently. "Tell me, what year is it?" The scenes unfolding before her were overlapping perfectly with her memories. When the Prince returned from his successful flood management, one of Emperor Chujing’s rewards had indeed been this very Pearl Luohan Pine.
"Replying to you, Miss, it is the sixteenth year of Emperor Chujing," Xiao Xizi said, watching the uncharacteristically dazed Gu Ranran and thinking to himself that she must have lost her wits.
It was not a dream. In the sixteenth year of Emperor Chujing, heavy rains hit the south. The funds allocated by the imperial court to reinforce the river dams were peeled away layer by layer by corrupt officials. The unreinforced dams could not withstand the century-level deluge and collapsed. Refugees flooded into the Capital in droves. The Emperor was furious, and the Prince received the imperial decree to lead the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Personnel south to manage the floods and investigate the million taels of silver that had been embezzled. How could this be? She had died—perished from that cup of poisoned wine in the dead of winter.
"Miss, shall I put this bonsai in the study, or elsewhere?" Xiao Xizi broke the silence.
"Give it to me," Aran said, taking the Luohan Pine as Xiao Xizi retreated from the courtyard.
She had experienced a Rebirth, and Heaven had played a cruel joke on her. Before she died, she had clearly wished never to meet him again in her next life, yet here she was, reborn in Xuan Manor. Tears streamed down her face, and she could no longer hold back her sobs; all her past grievances flowed out with them.
Everything could still be undone. She must not repeat the same mistakes. She had to escape; she had to get away! Her previous life had been a farce. To help the man she loved ascend to the throne step by step, she had become his sharpest blade, his weapon, and his pawn—yet she never became his woman. To him, she was always just a tool. She had lost her heart and her life, yet she never left even a trace in his heart. Truly, the one who loves is the one who is lowly!
She laughed bitterly. She was tired, and her heart had died with that cup of poisoned wine. Since Heaven had granted her another life, she would hide from him, avoid him, and do everything in her power to leave him.
Chu Hengyuan, the kindness you showed me in my past life, I have repaid with my life. We are even! In this life, I will live for myself. Aran walked to the window, set down the bonsai, and wiped away her tears. She looked up at the sky, washed clean by the rain, and felt a sudden sense of openness in her heart.
I am still alive. It is good to be alive! Aran’s heart gradually grew calm.
She began to carefully plot how to distance herself from this walled-in city. One wrong step would mean total defeat. The time until the Prince’s return to the manor was drawing ever closer.