Chapter 114: Sisters

"Take it." There was a stubbornness on Su Ya's face, and she said, "Having someone to help you will always make you stronger than being alone."

A strangeness rose on Liang Jiwen's expression, and she looked at Su Ya. "How is it that I remember that, when we were in Shejin, the two of use never had any sort of commonality."

With the matter that the two of them had, before, been tacitly silent about laid bare like this now, both Su Ya and Liang Jiwen's expressions were embarrassed. Su Ya pressed her lips together, shifting her gaze away, not daring to look at Liang Jiwen.

"Back then, I was young, you know that."

"But I was three years younger than you," Liang Jiwen said, sadness in her tone, "we clearly had the same status, yet we lived as if we were worlds apart."

Su Ya curled her hands, biting her lip, what she was thinking unknown. Liang Jiwen merely stared at her, her scorching gaze seeming to bore a hole through Su Ya. If one were to say she hadn't envied Su Ya, even Liang Jiwen herself wouldn't have believed it.

When she'd been young, she'd also puzzled over it; puzzled over why, while she was a princess the same as Su Ya, she could only hide away and live in the shadows, while Su Ya could live brightly and wonderfully, could be so wilful and brash.

At the time, she'd believed it was that Su Ya was luckier than her in having been able to earn their Royal Father's favour. But now, both of them were merely equally pitiable. If one had to rely on someone's favour in order to survive, then they had to abandon all of their own freedoms.

"I'm sorry," Su Ya said, suddenly, as if having decided on something. "Before, I was the one who was wrong."

"You do know how to apologise," Liang Jiwen blurted out, but when she reacted, she regretted it.

Yet Su Ya didn't grow angry as Liang Jiwen had imagined, only smiling mildly. "After my Consort Mother passed on, even if I would never have apologised before, I learned how."

Joking about a painful matter, shame suddenly rose in Liang Jiwen's heart. Outside the window, a few birds flew by, the beat of their wings adding a degree of life to the inside of the room. Only now did Liang Jiwen realise this was still the relay station, and she recalled Jiang Changbai's words, unable to help herself from asking, "Then, in the future, will you still live in the relay station?"

Su Ya shook her head. "Of course not; this is where foreign envoys live. Remaining in the Great Li, I've abandoned my identity as a princess of Shejin, and naturally don't have the right to live here. Though the Emperor of the Great Li won't have someone chase me out, I must be discreet.

"But I'm luckier than you are; on my journey here, I didn't experience any great trials, and my money and valuables are all with me. What was taken away from me by Ulan, her majesty returned to me in full. I've been thinking, after the diplomatic delegation leaves, I'll use that money to buy a small residence in the city, and live a common person's life."

Hearing Su Ya's words, Liang Jiwen suddenly felt they were somewhat familiar, and she couldn't help but think that Bi Yushuang had been the same. Buying a residence, and passing a steady, peaceful life. Liang Jiwen suddenly felt that Su Ya might go looking for Bi Yushuang to be a companion; after all, it wasn't as if Bi Yushuang hadn't made friends with those from Shejin before.

However, the next moment, Liang Jiwen thought of Su Ya's past temper, and her body trembled. It was said in the Great Li that the rivers and mountains changed more easily than one's character, and though right now Su Ya was far more humble than before, but if one day, she lived well, she might become as domineering as before.

Su Ya said she'd abandoned her identity as a princess of Shejin, but she still has Shejinese blood in her veins. She'd hurt Bi Yushuang.

It was already growing late, and the clouds on the horizon had been pained in purples and reds. Only now did Liang Jiwen realise that she ought to leave, but there was still one more thing that she still wanted to ask Su Ya.

"Whatever you want to ask, go on and ask," Su Ya said with a smile. "After our parting today, who knows when we'll be able to meet again."

"You've seen through me," Liang Jiwen's lips rose in a faint curve, "then, I'll ask you, if, one day, Shejin is like the Great Li, and a woman sits on the highest throne, and women are no longer subordinated to men, would you think of returning?"

"How could Shejin—" Su Ya wanted to deny, but her eyes widened as if suddenly thinking of something. Disbelieving, she looked at Liang Jiwen, and asked questioningly, "You mean?"

Liang Jiwen felt the heaviness that had been suppressed for so many hears in her chest dissipate in an instant, and she nodded with a smile. "You've guessed right."

Seeing Liang Jiwen nod, Su Ya suddenly grew a bit agitated. Su Ya paced before the window for a long while, making as if to close the window without thinking about it, and then she paced unhurriedly towards the door, and stuck her head out to look around and make sure no one was there, and only then did she close the door firmly.

Finally, she sat down before Liang Jiwen once more, and looked at her cautiously. "Does the Emperor of the Great Li know about this?"

Only now did Liang Jiwen understand Su Ya's meaning, and an inexplicable warmth rose in her heart. Though the two of them hadn't had any commonalities in the past, at this moment, Su Ya truly was honestly worried about her.

"Her majesty agreed to it," Liang Jiwen said, simply.

The words were like a pill that Su Ya had swallowed, and a visible flush of red spread across her face. Su Ya, agitated, tugged at Liang Jiwen's hands, her eyes staring dazedly at Liang Jiwen. "You mean, the Emperor of the Great Li will support you in becoming the King of Shejin?"

Liang Jiwen nodded, slowly and gravely. "There always has to be someone as the King of Shejin, mustn't there?"

Su Ya felt crashing waves rise in her heart. Liang Jiwen had left Shejin long ago, and had no idea of the true difference in might between the Great Li and Shejin now. But Su Ya was fully aware of the gap between the strength of the two countries, and she knew that, if, now, the Great Li wished to extinguish Shejin, it would only require the price of some of the common people.

But having earned the Emperor of the Great Li's support, that was more than enough to defeat the currently squabbling and backstabbing princes of Shejin.

Liang Jiwen was already the King of Shejin. No wonder—no wonder Liang Jiwen didn't need her jade pendant. Thinking of this, Su Ya fell to her knees.

Liang Jiwen, seeing this, hurried to pull her to her feet, and she babbled, "Jiejie, there's no need for ceremony."

"Of course I would be willing." Only now did Su Ya think to respond to the question Liang Jiwen had asked just then. "Who would be willing to remain in a foreign land? If there truly is such a day, I'd most certainly return to Shejin. I just don't know if, when the time comes, I'll be able to return."

Su Ya's worry wasn't without reason. The two countries shared a border, and were either hostile, with continuous campaigns, or were friendly, and one of the monarch's family would be sent to the other country to live, thus ensuring that both sides were on guard.

The might of Shejin paled in comparison to the Great Li, and naturally there was a reason for a member of the Shejin royal family to live int he Great Li. If Liang Jiwen truly were to take the throne, Su Ya thought, she herself would likely spend her entire life in the Great Li.

Yet Liang Jiwen hadn't guessed what Su Ya was thinking, and merely nodded. "Alright; if there is a day when I'm the King of Shejin, I'll definitely bring you back."

When Liang Jiwen returned to the Rongfan Palace, the image of Su Ya's expression from before kept flashing in her mind. That expression seemed to contain countless emotions, yet Liang Jiwen couldn't understand a single one of them.

"Dianxia, your things have been packed," Qiu Liu said, suddenly appearing by Liang Jiwen's side.

From the time Nanny Pei Yu had passed, Qiu Liu had had her assignment changed to the Rongfan Palace. And, after Liang Jiwen knew that Qiu Liu was the last person whom Nanny Pei Yu had seen before passing on, she'd burst into sobs, and the two's relationship had thus grown closer.

Now that Liang Jiwen was about to leave, of those who couldn't let go of their master, Qiu Liu was one of them.

Liang Jiwen looked at Qiu Liu earnestly, as if wanting to imprint her face into her mind, and only then did she ask, "After I leave, where will you be assigned to?"

Now, there were hardly any masters in the Rear Court, and most of the maids had been dismissed, left to seek their own employment. Liang Jiwen feared that, after she left, Qiu Liu would have nowhere to go, and had thus asked this.

Yet Qiu Liu smiled. "Of course I'll stay in the Rongfan Palace. If, one day Dianxia needs this servant, you merely need to write me a letter."

"But?"

"Doesn't Dianxia know?" Qiu Liu was startled by Liang Jiwen's question. "After you leave, her highness Su Ya will move in."

Liang Jiwen's ears rang, as if something had struck her head. She gazed at Qiu Liu, eyes wide, and asked, ,trembling, "Who did you say is going to move in?"

"Her highness Su Ya, of course," Qiu Liu said, tilting her head. "That former Envoy of Shejin to the Great Li—she's a princess of Shejin as well, Dianxia ought to know her."

The shackles on Liang Jiwen's mind suddenly burst, and Liang Jiwen suddenly understood that expression of Su Ya's when they'd parted. Su Ya was a few years older than her, and truly was sharper than she was.

"So, she knew from the start," Liang Jiwen murmured. Immediately after, it was as if she'd thought of something, and she grasped Qiu Liu's hands and asked urgently, "Then—then did you hear anything about new maids entering the Palace?"

Hearing this, Qiu Liu was astonished, and while she'd wanted to pull her hands away, she couldn't. She could only maintain the strange posture, and she said, "How does Dianixa know? Recently, a couple of the maids from Concubine Dowager Bi came; apparently they couldn't be supported outside..."

"One named Tao Li, and one named He Miao?" As Liang Jiwen spoke, her voice trembled. But by the time Qiu Liu nodded, Liang Jiwen felt that she'd lost all her vigour, and her hands fell powerlessly.

It was all because of her—all because of her. If she hadn't insisted on returning to Shejin to vie for the throne, then how could these people have been dragged into being locked up in the Palace? Jiang Changbai always needed to have something she could control her with; she'd long since known that.

But whether it was Su Ya, or He Miao and Tao Li, they could have originally lived steady, peaceful, free lives; Su Ya had been looking forward to it so, and He Miao and Tao Li had only just left a life of hiding away, but now all of that had been destroyed by her.

It was as if a massive boulder were pressed down on her heart, and resentment suddenly rose in Liang Jiwen's heart. But even she herself didn't know who she was resenting. Was she resenting Jiang Changbai? But was willing to stand against so many voices and support her in returning to Shejin to vie for the throne, and that was already a great favour.

Liang Jiwen knew clearly that, without the Great Li's support, if she were to return to Shejin alone, it would be no different than leaping into a wolf's maw. More than that, if not for Jiang Changbai, she likely would have likely long since have starved to death in the city along with Nanny Pei Yu, to say nothing of the present. Jiang Changbai had shown her grace, and she ought to be moved.

Liang Jiwen was just thinking this when she heard Qiu Liu, by her side, fall to her knees, and call out, "Greetings to Wangjun."

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