My Princess Has Been Reborn: Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – You’re really good looking

In the morning, the wet and chilly spring wind blew across people’s faces, making them feel much more alert.

The sound of shuffling footsteps came from far away. Lu Qipei was moving through the wilderness of the mountain forests with great effort. The small beads of sweat on her forehead and her light panting were proof that she had already been maintaining this high speed for quite some time —— that’s right, Lu Qipei had run away, before sky brightened, before they headed home after staying at the monastery overnight and when the driver, young servant and A-Yu were not expecting it at all. She had escaped from the monastery in the mountains!

Although she was a woman dressed as a man, Lu Qipei definitely did not have a weak and delicate physique. Perhaps, to be a perfect substitute, since young, what Lu Qicheng had to learn, she had to too. In fact, she was better at the six arts* than him and thus her physical ability was far better than that of ordinary girls.

*etiquette, music, archery, chariot riding, calligraphy and mathematics

It was only at daybreak, as the first rays of sunlight cast their light upon the earth, when Lu Qipei finally reached the foot of the mountain.

The ends of her long gown were dampened by the morning dew on the blades of grass and her done-up hair was moistened by sweat. Lu Qipei’s jade-like face was slightly red as she bent over and clasped her hands over her knees. She exhaled deeply, her body tired and sore but her heart carefree.

She wondered, how would A-Yu react upon realising that she was missing?

The corner of Lu Qipei’s lips carried a smile, her feelings seemingly lifted by the cool morning wind.

She only held her knees to catch her breath for a moment before standing up straight again and turning her head once more to look at the part of the upturned eaves of the monastery at the top of the mountain that she could vaguely see. Immediately, she resolutely turned to take a step forward, her eyes clear and determined as she walked towards her new future…

Of course, for something like running away, escaping while others are unprepared was only the first step. Not getting caught after running away was the main priority!

Lu Qipei was very clear that at this time, the imperial examinations were just around the corner. Lu Qicheng would not let her go so easily and the people behind him were even less likely to brush this aside. Once A-Yu reacted to her disappearance, it was likely that there would soon be people coming after her. She had to come up with a way to get around this.

As Lu Qipei was evaluating which road she should take to leave the capital, she walked past a farmhouse at the foot of the mountain and caught a glimpse of some clothes being hung to dry in the fenced courtyard. She glanced down at her striking robe, then looked at the plain brown clothes1 in the courtyard again. She only hesitated for a second before leaping over the ineffective wattle fence.

In a flash, the robe on Lu Qipei’s body became a patched-up set of plain brown clothing. Her elegant long hair was messed up and carelessly tied up with a cloth band, appearing quite disorderly. Only her stunning face that even black ash could not cover remained as brilliant as ever.

Lu Qipei looked at her reflection in the water vat in the courtyard. She felt unsatisfied with it but despite how learned she was, she had never learned the art of disguise so this was as much as she could do. In the end, she took out a silver piece and placed it in front of the threshold of the main room of the small courtyard as a way to buy the clothes she took. Wearing the clothing she had changed into, Lu Qipei leapt over the fence again and disappeared at the end of the road.

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In the spring, the sun was bright and the birds were chirping. All around was lush greenery full of life.

An ox cart carrying rice straw was moving slowly on the flat public road. A youth wearing patched-up clothes was lying on the pile of rice straw and carelessly playing with a piece of rice straw in one hand while the other arm shielded most of their face from the blazing sun.

The clattering sound of horse hooves drew nearer. As it passed by the ox cart, it clearly slowed down. The person riding on the back of the horse took a quick glance at the old man driving the cart, then at the lazy and carefree youth of a farmer’s family who seemed to be in deep sleep. He did not linger there for long and quickly rode his horse away.

The sound of horse hooves came near and went far again. The youth on the stack of rice straw finally moved the arm covering their face away and glanced at the back of the person atop the horse. In the end, the youth pursed their lips and relaxed again —— naturally, the youth on this ox cart was Lu Qipei. It was a pity that too few people had seen her before so the number of people who could recognise her at a glance was naturally much smaller.

It was probably to prevent others from finding out that a substitute like her existed that Lu Qipei rarely met people outside of her house. She lived as Lu Qicheng’s shadow. What kind of person was Lu Qicheng? Ignoring other things, people who have met him would always praise his calm and steady demeanour and that he was talented. Then how about Lu Qicheng’s shadow Lu Qipei? Even if she was not aware of it, she had also gradually grown up to be a calm and unparalleled literary talent.

The brilliant young master whose every action aligned with his calm demeanour and the farm boy in ragged clothes lying on the pile of rice straw were worlds apart. Even if they were looking for her based on Lu Qicheng’s appearance, as long as they did not see her face, they would not be able to recognise her.

Lu Qipei felt that this was both laughable and a good thing. Regardless, she still decided to keep her face covered first.

Horses and carts frequently travelled on this road and carts would sometimes even be suddenly asked to stop by troops. A group of big, burly men encircled a cart, chased the driver off and went onto the cart themselves to search it but in the end, nothing was found. The owner of the cart grumbled and swore but as a commoner, he did not dare to get into a fight with other people so he just suppressed that urge and cursed as he drove away.

On the contrary, the ox cart that Lu Qipei was on was peaceful, mostly because everything was out in the open and even if they did meet with the inspecting troops, no one would take note of the old man driving the cart or the young man on it.

Finally, the old driver said, “Young man, I’m reaching my destination, if you want to go to the Zhao family village you’ll have to get off here and walk there yourself.”

Lu Qipei took her arm away and looked left and right. Seeing that there were no people around, she flipped over and sat up. She thanked the driver and hopped off the ox cart, then took out some money to pay for the ride. However, after giving it some thought, she decided that she might as well ask, “Are you selling this ox cart?”

Hearing this, the old man hurriedly waved his hands and replied, “No, I’m not selling this ox, the spring harvest is coming soon and I still need it to plough the fields!”

Lu Qipei did not waste her breath persuading him. Instead, she directly took out a silver ingot from her coin pouch and held it out in front of the old man.

In the face of money that was more than enough to buy two oxen, the old man compromised. He happily passed the cart’s whip to Lu Qipei and ran off hugging the silver ingot, as though he was afraid that if he stayed for a second longer, Lu Qipei would regret it.

Lu Qipei held the whip and at the sight of the man’s actions, she laughed silently. She knew how to drive the cart and she could do it well but at this moment, she had not bought the ox cart to travel but as an additional cover —— there were plenty of people moving back and forth on this road looking for her; she did not want to walk on this road completely exposed and open for people to recognise her. Having an ox beside her to block their line of sight made it much better.

Before walking off, Lu Qipei conveniently plucked a branch from a tree on the roadside and carelessly held it in her hand. When people passed by her, she could lift the tree branch and use the leaves to cover her face slightly.

Like this, she travelled for an hour without incident despite meeting some people. This calmed Lu Qipei down slightly.

Coincidentally, at this moment, troops were coming in Lu Qipei’s direction from far away. The troops were orderly and striking.

Lu Qipei looked up and saw this scene. Immediately, she knew that a noble person must be out. Moreover, based on the scale of the troops and the attire of the bodyguards, it was not just any noble person but a legitimate descendant of the emperor!

However, this had nothing to do with Lu Qipei. After all, these were not the people she was trying to hide from, so she was at ease as she pulled the ox cart to the side of the road to wait for the troops to pass by before she continued her escape.

The carriage was approaching and the leading troop had already passed by Lu Qipei. By the time most of the troops had marched by, Lu Qipei was idly waving the tree branch about, waiting for these people to hurry up and go. However, the troops in front suddenly stopped. Then, before Lu Qipei could react, a group of armed soldiers encircled her and her ox cart!

Lu Qipei’s expression changed instantly and she subconsciously took a step back, the tree branch in her hand shooting up to cover her face.

Yet, before she could make sense of this situation, she heard a girl’s light and joyful laughter. The soldiers surrounding her also started retreating.

Through the gap created, a young woman wearing light-coloured, regal clothing walked over with her hands clasped behind her back, her eyes bright and curved like crescent moons.

Instantly, Lu Qipei’s heart started pounding. Through the leaves, she dazedly stared at the noble woman opposite her, as if she had been stunned by her beauty but in actual fact, she was drowning in the turbulent emotions in her heart…

…Until that young woman in palace clothing cocked her head slightly and smiled at her, saying, “You’re really good-looking.”

The author has something to say:
Lu Qipei (confident): I’m in this attire and riding this ox cart looking like a cowherd. Nobody will recognise me!
Qi Yang (eyes lit up): Wait, stop the car, I think I saw my prince consort, come with me to catch her!
Lu Qipei (…): ???!!!

Pure on the outside, evil on the inside, the reborn little princess has appeared…

Translator’s notes:

1. the clothes