Chapter 11: Junjun
The entire Huaiqing Alley consisted of only about a hundred households, all familiar with each other, and seldom did outsiders venture in. So when the woman suddenly saw Xie Yun’s unfamiliar face, she couldn’t help but glance at her several times.
Especially since the young woman was exceptionally beautiful, her face appearing as if nurtured in warm jade spring waters—one could easily believe she was the daughter of a noble family.
What could such a person be doing here?
The woman discreetly studied her, efficiently took a packet of candies from the peddler, paid with silver coins taken from her bosom, and after the peddler smiled and went off calling out his wares, she remained standing at the doorway, craning her neck to watch.
As she watched, she saw the beautiful young lady walk to the eastern end, to the home of the tutor Xie Wenyan. Hesitating for a long while, she finally raised her hand to knock.
A trace of astonishment rose in the woman’s heart. She quickly closed her door and called out to her husband chopping firewood in the yard, “Stop what you’re doing, I have something strange to tell you!”
The dark-skinned man glanced at her in surprise, laid down his chopping knife, wiped the sweat from his brow, and asked, “Weren’t you just buying candy for Huzi? What’s up? Did the peddler overcharge you today?”
The woman scolded him lightly, took his hand with mock seriousness, and said, “I just saw an extremely beautiful young lady go to Xie Wenyan’s house. It reminded me of that girl Yuming—she was taken away early this morning by servants from the Chancellor’s Mansion!”
“Do you think this young lady could be Xie Wenyan’s own daughter come back?”
The man pondered the meaning behind her words, uncertain. “That can’t be, right? Didn’t we hear the former Chancellor’s daughter was especially outstanding and favored by the old lady of the mansion? She wouldn’t just come back like this. Maybe you’re mistaken.”
The woman lightly tapped his arm, glancing sideways at him. “What do you know? I think it’s exactly that. No matter how favored the young lady was before, it wasn’t real. She couldn’t compare to Yuming’s luck!”
“If I had known Yuming was of such status, I would have shown up more often before, so when she returned to the Chancellor’s Mansion, she would remember the kindness of our neighbors. Maybe her father could even get you an official post!”
As the woman murmured her regret, her face full of remorse, the man inwardly scoffed.
That Xie Yuming, hearing she was really the Chancellor’s daughter, had even forsaken her own parents to rush back to the mansion to live in comfort—would she still remember them, the neighbors?
He thought it best to stick to chopping wood quietly; what did all this talk of noble daughters have to do with him?
...
Xie Yun stood before the wooden door for a long time.
She looked at an apricot tree by the door, its blossoms in full bloom, each petal pure jade-white, unfolding to greet the breeze with fragrance.
She vaguely recalled that in her past life, she had come here once before.
That was when she first learned of her true identity. Xie Yuming had been taken back to the Chancellor’s Mansion, and the mother-daughter reunion was deeply moving. In the restless nights that followed, she had been curious about what her biological parents looked like. Did they care for her too?
One day, she had sneaked out with a bamboo staff, taken a long carriage ride, and stood before this wooden door.
Back then, she only wanted to catch a distant glimpse of her real parents, but overheard two people inside the courtyard talking, both worrying about Xie Yuming.
—Worried that Xie Yuming might not adapt to life at the Chancellor’s Mansion, worried she might miss them and not be able to come out freely, worried she would feel wronged by the mansion’s strict rules.
Every word was completely unrelated to her, Xie Yun.
At that time, watching the apricot blossoms, she thought: maybe she shouldn’t have come.
Now, standing here again, no one knew what she was thinking. Only a strange woman noticed her lingering so long and finally raised her hand to knock.
“Who is it?” Through the narrow crack, Xie Yun saw a woman glance around and then step toward the door.
She guessed this must be her biological mother, Wang Chengdai.
The door opened. The woman looked at Xie Yun with puzzled eyes. “Miss, who are you looking for?”
Xie Yun smiled, her eyes shining instantly.
“Mother, I have come home.”
The woman stared at her for quite a while, the dustpan in her hands slipping to the ground as she was rendered speechless. “You are... Yun’er?”
Though she had never seen her biological daughter, she knew her name.
Xie Yun, the former Chancellor’s daughter, renowned as the most beautiful woman in Yanjing, often paired with Wei Rao, the legitimate daughter of the Wei family, as the “Two Beauties of Yanjing.” Truly outstanding.
Wang Chengdai had once glimpsed Xie Yun from afar while out in town.
At that time, she was surrounded by maids and servants, wearing the veil reserved for noble daughters—her face completely hidden, so no one really knew what she looked like.
Only in recent days had Wang Chengdai realized that the noble daughter she had seen from afar was indeed her own daughter.
Xie Yun smiled and nodded, neither humble nor proud. “When I was in the mansion, Grandmother gave me the childhood name Lingjun. Mother, you may just call me Junjun.”